Out of Luck
by Epic-Writer0.1
Summary: After NSL, the Louds' "luck" runs out and they experience the consequences of their actions including losing custody of Lincoln to a religious charity organization. However, the charity people are not what they seem. More unique than it sounds. Rated Teen for a brief moment of grisly violence, smoking, and some dark acts of pure inhuman malevolence (not referring to the Louds).
1. Prologue

**Hello everyone! I know what some of you might be thinking, but I just had to write at least **_**ONE**_** "No Such Luck" fanfic. It is by far my least favorite episode with "Brawl in the Family" being a close second. But before you all start judging and disregarding this, I want you to know that I've read a lot of NSL fanfics and have seen that some of them follow similar formulas. Therefore, I've decided to write mine in some more unique ways that I'm sure some of you might not find in a lot of other stories. So I advise you to read through the chapters I've written and wait for the next ones.**

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"ORDER IN THE COURT! ORDER IN THE COURT!" the judge impatiently demanded for the umpteenth time and struck the sound block with her gavel, but the arguing and bickering between the two parties continued and the whole courtroom was in disarray.

One party consisted of the prosecutor, two agents (one a woman and the other a man) each wearing a badge with the initials CPS (Children's Protective Services), and 11 year old Lincoln Loud. While the prosecutor and the CPS agent were in a loud heated argument with the other party, Lincoln just sat in his seat burying his face in his hands in disgust and embarrassment. The white-haired boy clearly didn't like how things were going. He also looked like he was not in the healthiest state. His eyes were a little red, the bags under them were bigger, and he had slightly less color in his skin. The way things were escalating was starting to make the poor kid feel even sicker than he was already feeling.

The opposing party consisted of the rest of Lincoln's family, his parents and nine of his sisters, and their defense attorney who just sat in his seat face palming. Apparently he also didn't like how this trial was turning out. Albert, Rita Loud's father, was sitting in the public gallery holding his infant granddaughter, Lily Loud, in his left arm and face palming with his right. He was clearly embarrassed at the way his daughter and her family were behaving. Rita, Lynn Sr., and their nine daughters were aggressively proclaiming innocence to the other party. However, Lynn Jr. and Lola were mostly hurling childish insults at their accusers. Lynn Jr. was also ranting about all of this was really Lincoln's fault, but he just ignored her.

After a while, Lincoln lifted his head from his hands for a moment and looked over at the opposing party, which was his own family. The only person who looked back at him was his family's defense attorney. Both of them looked absolutely miserable and really didn't want to be there. The white-haired adolescent gave the lawyer a sympathetic look and nodded his head as if saying '_Yeah, I know how you feel_.' The lawyer nodded back to let the sickly-looking boy know he understood him before rolling his eyes and burying his face back in his hands. Lincoln then lay his face down on the table in front of him as the aching sounds of arguing and ranting continued to fill his ears.

After a moment of nonstop bickering between the two parties, everything froze and the entire courtroom went silent. Everyone had frozen in the position they were in. It was as if someone had hit the 'pause' button and stopped time.

"Now I know some of you are probably a little confused and asking 'Lincoln, what did you and your family do this time?'" Lincoln narrated but then paused to let out a few coughs. "Well, if you allow me to explain –"

"Oh no you don't!" his sister Lynn Jr. interrupted. "You're not turning _them_ against me too, you accursed jinx! _I'll_ be the one who will tell them what happened."

Lincoln let out an annoyed groan. "Fine! Go ahead, Lynn. Good _luck_ convincing them."

"Surprised?" Lynn asked the readers. "What you think Stinkoln is the only one who can see you guys? He just talks to you more than the rest of us. But not this time. This time _I'll_ tell you how we all ended up in this lousy predicament. But I must warn you all, this is a very sad story. The tragic tale of a magnificent young woman. She was chosen by the softball gods and destined to be the greatest athlete in history. That is, until she was _**cursed**_ by her no good brother and betrayed by her stupid and ungrateful fans, friends and family! This is her story. Actually, this is _my_ story. Now in order you guys to truly understand that what I'm telling you is true, we need to go back a little to before we all ended up in this so-called courtroom and then this'll all make sense."

Then time started rapidly turning backwards as if it were a movie being rewound. After a moment of rewinding, it stopped at a scene of a younger Lynn Sr. playing ball with an infant Lynn Jr. in the backyard of their home. Both were standing ten feet from each other.

"Whoops! That's a little too far back," an embarrassed Narrator Lynn said. "But you gotta admit, I was pretty cute back then and I already had the makings to become a great sports star."

"Alright LJ, catch the ball." an excited Lynn Sr. said gently tossing a soft little red ball to his one year old fifth born daughter.

Little Lynn waddled around trying to catch the ball. However, she missed it, tripped, and landed on her belly. This humiliating accident caused her to start crying. Reacting quickly, her father quickly grabbed the ball, lifted his baby girl back onto her little feet, and spoke in a loving and supportive tone to calm her down.

"It's alright, LJ. It's okay. You'll always be my little winner no matter what," then he gently rolled the ball to her from a much closer distance. Her face beamed with happiness and pride when she caught it, and so did his. "See Junior, you're a very lucky girl. And no matter what you do, we'll always be proud of you. You're a winner, LJ. And winners _never_ lose."

The support and praise from her father and the great triumphant feeling from catching the ball made Little Lynn Jr. want to play more sports and become the greatest athlete ever. With her goal decided, she would grow and work hard to make that dream a reality by any means necessary.

"So adorable," Narrator Lynn commented. "But anyways, let's move ahead to more current events now."

With that, time began to fast forward twelve years into the present. Now it was time to see how everything came to be.

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**And there you have it. The first chapter of my first NSL story for this website. Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you're looking forward to the next one. **

**Now before any of you take your leave, I'd like to share with you a couple major unique elements I've made in this story that I hope will peek your interest:**

**Lincoln is NOT the one who gets his family in trouble with the authorities. Also, despite the way his family has unjustly treated him, he is one of the few characters who is the least hostile toward them. **

**Although what the Louds have done to Lincoln was inexcusable, they are NOT the worst characters in this story. **


	2. Big Mistake

**Here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoy.**

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It was a beautiful day in Royal Woods, Michigan. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the Royal Woods baseball field was roaring with cheers and applause. The reason for all this noisy praise and adoration was because thirteen year old middle school athlete, Lynn Loud Jr., had just won a big baseball game. This was a special game because it was the last game before the championship. It was a big day for everyone, especially Lynn, who had practiced, trained, and performed all the good luck rituals she knew to achieve victory this day. The cheering from her fans and family from the bleachers filled her with pride. She had suffered only one loss during these last few months, but was able to make a big comeback.

Lynn stood on the field proudly waving and blowing kisses to her adoring fans. She took notice of her family who were cheering hysterically. However, eleven year old only boy Lincoln was not as cheerful as the others. He sat in the bleachers with the rest of his family wearing an ugly-looking squirrel costume and applauding his sister's victory, but his applause was very dull and lacked emotion.

The last couple of weeks had not been very kind to Lincoln at all. He had to attend every event his sisters participated in and support them. After weeks of this, he was yearning for some quality time to himself but knew no one would ever listen to him if he told them. One day, Lynn forced him to attend one of her baseball games for the first time which ended with her team losing for the first time as well. Lynn, being the egotistical and superstitious person she is, blamed the whole thing on Lincoln and said he was bad luck. This gave Lincoln an idea, instead of denying such rubbish he thought if he played along his family would want him to come less and less to their events thus giving him the quality time he so desired. Unfortunately, as time went on and the family started banning him from even more events, like going to the movies, Lincoln found himself becoming very lonely. Things got even worse when the family started taking their superstitions too far and banned Lincoln from the house entirely. When Lincoln tried to confess to lying about being bad luck, Lynn refused to believe it and the rest of the family followed suit. In one last ditch effort to prove he was telling the truth, Lincoln snuck into one of Lynn's baseball games disguised as the Royal Woods Squirrels' mascot. After Lynn won the game, Lincoln revealed himself to his family. At first, it seemed that his family finally realized he was telling the truth and wasn't bad luck after all. However, it didn't take long for the family to go back to their overly superstitious ways and began to believe that the squirrel suit was a good luck charm that canceled out Lincoln's bad luck so they made him where it where they went. Once again, Lincoln found himself in a ridiculous and unfair predicament. He had gone from being an outcast to a prisoner and a tool. And as if things couldn't get any worse, these last few days of wearing that suit 24 hours a day was starting to make the poor boy feel sick.

After the game, the family all hopped into Vanzilla the family van. They were all congratulating and praising Lynn for her success.

"Good game today, LJ," Lynn Sr. congratulated his athletic fifth born.

"You did great, Lynn," Leni complimented.

"I'd say your performance was 99.99 % accurately coordinated," Lisa stated in her brainy calculative way.

"You literally had that game in the bag," Lori commended.

"Thanks guys, but I couldn't had won all on my own. I had these _MASSIVE GUNS!_" Lynn boasted while kissing her biceps causing her family to laugh except Lincoln.

"Well now that the game is over," The boy to let out a small cough. "Can I take this suit off?" Lincoln politely asked getting prepared to take the squirrel head off.

"NO!" all his sisters said aggressively at the same time.

"We're going to the mall right now and we don't want anything bad to happen," Lori told him.

"There's going to be a big sale at the Big Department Store," Leni said excitedly. "If you don't wear the good luck suit, all the good clothes could sell out."

"Or the Princess Store could run out of the prettiest tiaras," Lola added.

"Or the animals at the pet shop could be sold to people who might abuse them," Lana also added.

"Or the health food store could run out of those low-cal bean chips," Lori concluded.

"But guys, I don't feel so good!" Lincoln complained letting out another cough.

"Lincoln honey," Rita spoke to her son in a calm and encouraging voice. "Please be fair to your sisters."

"Fine," the irritated boy reluctantly agreed and kept the squirrel suit on.

At the Royal Woods Mall, each family member went to their own favorite store. However, the sisters took turns bringing Lincoln to each one of their favorite stores for good luck. Not only was he feeling embarrassed of being forced to walk around in public wearing a ridiculous rodent costume, but he was also not feeling good health wise. After a week of being forced to wear that squirrel suit 24 hours a day, Lincoln had begun to feel a lot weaker than usual. He started sniffling and coughing more and more, he had been getting less sun making contact with his skin, the heat was becoming extremely unbearable and the inside of the suit was beginning to smell like sweat and BO. Unfortunately, whenever he tried to tell his family his complaints fell on deaf ears.

Lincoln soon found himself accompanying Leni at the Big Department Store, or as mall experts call it an 'anchor store'. There they met up with Leni's closest friends. Together they all spent a little over a half hour chanting and shopping, but while Leni and her friends were having a blast looking at and picking out all sorts of new clothes and makeup products Lincoln was cooking inside his soft mobile prison cell. After they were all done they purchased their things from Morris, Leni's good friend and the store's stylist.

"There you go, Leni," Morris happily handed Leni the goods she purchased. "I know you will look ravishing in those. They're some of our store's best sellers."

"Thank you, Morris," the sixteen year old fashionista expressed her sweet gratitude. "I'll like be sure to come back to see what other new items you'll have on sale next time."

"Before you leave, is there anything I can get for your brother?" Morris asked noticing Lincoln in the squirrel costume. "Because it looks like he might've run out of new clothes to wear."

The rest of Leni's friends chuckled at Morris's joke which made the already miserable boy groan in embarrassment. It was bad enough Leni used him as a mannequin for her fashion ideas and showed him to her friends, but now he had to face them wearing such a ridiculous and ugly looking outfit.

"What's the deal, is he training to become a squirrel?" one of Leni's male friends asked chuckling.

"Actually, he brings us good luck when he wears that suit," Leni answered.

Her friends stared weirdly at her for a moment and then they all burst into laughter. Even though she didn't understand why they were laughing, Leni decided to join in.

"And he's bad luck when he doesn't wear the suit," Leni said still laughing. This caused her friends to laugh even harder.

"So what do you do when he isn't wearing the suit?" one of Leni's female friends asked trying to control herself.

"Oh, he never takes it off," Leni replied through her laughter. "Our family won't let him."

Hearing this, Leni's friends' laughter decreased to nervous chuckling.

"What?" another of her female friends asked nervously.

"Without that good luck suit, he'll have to live outside again," Leni continued while still laughing and thinking they were still having fun.

"What?!" Morris said shocked.

"Yeah, like after we discovered he was bad luck," Leni casually explained. "We banned him from all of our family activities, left him home most of the time, then boarded up his room to prevent him from sleeping on the same floor with us, sold all his stuff, and made him sleep outside in the yard."

After finishing her sentence, Leni burst into hysterical laughter still thinking they were all laughing at something funny for some reason. However, she was so busy laughing that she didn't notice that her friends weren't laughing anymore. Instead, they were all staring at her with shocked and horrified expressions. Lincoln didn't notice their expressions either because he was so embarrassed that he couldn't bear to look any of them in the eye.

"Well, I'd better get going," Leni said and stopped laughing. "Dad's making another special dinner tonight in honor of Lynn's victory today. Bye, I'll totes see you all tomorrow." With that, the fashionista left the store with her miserable brother still unaware of the horrified state she was leaving her friends in.

None of Leni's friends could believe what they just heard. They all knew Leni wasn't really a bad person, she was just naïve. Very, _VERY_ naïve. This was a trait that made her easy to manipulate. However, to hear that her family would do something so horrible for such a ridiculous reason was more than any of them could bear. It was at that moment, Morris found himself in a serious situation as he looked over to a nearby telephone sitting on a nearby sales counter. The stylist knew that if he did what he was thinking of doing Leni would be in just as much trouble as her family. His sense of loyalty to his dear friend was conflicting with his sense of right and wrong. Finally, Morris made his decision. He reluctantly walked over to the phone, picked it up and dialed a number.

"Hello, this is Morris of the Big Department Store at the Royal Woods Mall," the stylist introduced himself when his call was answered. Small tears started welling up in his eyes. "I need you to get me the Children's Protective Services right away."

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**Well, it looks like the Loud family's **_**luck**_** is finally going to run out. **


	3. Busted

**Here's the next chapter. Word of warning, there are at least three despicable characters I've thought of in this story so far, and Lynn is one of them. I portray Lynn in a very unlikeable light to drive home how badly thought up the plot for "No Such Luck" was. Luckily, she's only dislikeable in the first few chapters and gets better as the story progresses. The other two despicable characters are two of the true antagonists of this story who are dislikeable in order to give the readers someone to root against. As bad as Lynn is, the real villains are still worse.**

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That night at the Loud House, everyone was celebrating Lynn's big victory with a big dinner. It shouldn't feel like a special occasion because they had been doing this for the past few weeks now. Sometimes it was for Lola, sometimes for Lori, but most of the time it was for Lynn. But this night, they were celebrating the last game Lynn won before she could finally move on to playing in the championship. This night's meal was Lynn's favorite, spicy meatball subs. The younger sisters were sitting in the living room watching TV, the older sisters and their mother were in the dining room setting the table, their father was in the kitchen cooking the dinner, and their only brother and son was upstairs wondering how much longer he could put up with this insanity while sitting in the small empty space that had once been his room. The eleven year old felt that he should feel a little happy for his sister's success, but this constant disregard for his feelings and wellbeing was making it harder and harder to feel any pride for her accomplishments.

"Leni, could you go upstairs and ask your brother to come down and help me?" Lynn Sr. asked his second eldest daughter. "I could use a little good luck to make sure this meal turns out perfect."

"Okay Dad," Leni agreed and made her way upstairs. "Lincoln, Dad needs your help with dinner," the fashionista said knocking on her brother's door. "He needs some of your good luck to make sure everything turns out great."

"Of course he does," he responded in a sarcastic and bitter tone of voice.

"Is everything okay?" Leni asked concerned.

"Yeah, everything is fan-freakin'-tastic!" Lincoln responded in the same sarcastic and bitter tone followed by a small sickly cough. "This squirrel suit smells like roses and daisies, and it's filled with candy and ice cream!"

"Ooooo! That's sounds cool!" Leni obliviously commented with excitement. "You should totes share some with the rest of us after dinner. I like gummi bears." Then the blonde teen walked away to join the rest of the family downstairs.

For a long moment, Lincoln just sat in his empty room as he felt something inside finally snap. While he knew he shouldn't be surprised of this kind of thing coming from Leni, but it was that this point that the eleven year old finally realized enough was enough.

"Alright, I'm done with this," Lincoln said deciding to make a stand before letting out another sickly cough.

Back downstairs, almost the entire family was seated at the dinner table, with the exception of Lynn Sr. and Lincoln.

"How's that grub comin', Pop-Star?" Luna asked her dad.

"Almost done," the patriarch responded. "Now where is that good luck charm?"

Suddenly, everyone heard footsteps coming down the stairs and stop at the entrance of the dining room. Everyone instantly knew it was Lincoln.

"Finally! It's about time you got down here," Lola complained. "Now get in the kitchen. I'm getting hungr-RREEEEEEEEEYYYYEEEE!" The six year old pageant winner let out a shocked and disgusted squeal when she saw her brother.

The rest of the sisters and their mother all stared with dropped jaws. Not only was Lincoln not wearing the 'lucky' squirrel suit but he also looked extremely unhealthy. His skin had lost some color and his eyes were a little red. Not to mention he also smelled like body odor.

"Bro, what happened to you?!" a concerned Luna asked her brother.

"And why do you literally smell like BO?" Lori asked holding her nose.

"It would appear that long confinement in that mascot outfit and less exposure to sunlight and fresh air has had detrimental effects on our sole male sibling's health," Lisa said matter-of-factly.

"Well, if he doesn't put that suit back on, it will be detrimental to _our_ health," Lynn said.

"Lynn, did you not hear what Lisa just said?!" an annoyed and sickly Lincoln asked before coughing.

"Most of the things that come out of her mouth are hard to understand, so I don't listen to a single things she says," Lynn bluntly admitted.

"Story of my life," Lisa responded brushing off Lynn's comment.

"Come on son, this dinner is very important and I don't want anything to go wrong," Lynn Sr. complained.

"What if Dad overcooks the meatballs?" Lynn Jr. asked.

"Or what is he uses the wrong ingredients?" Lucy joined in.

"Or what if Pop-Star burns himself while cooking?" Luna added.

"Now go put that suit back on!" Lola ordered her big brother.

"Lincoln please," Rita asked her son politely. "Listen to your sisters."

Everything that was happening so far was agitating Lincoln more and more. How was it that whenever he was accused of something bad he got the worst of it, and whenever his sisters did something bad they got a pass? How was it that everyone listened to their side of things and completely ignored his?! Usually Lincoln was a very patient person when it came to his big family, but these last few weeks had really taken their toll on the boy's mental and physical state. This time, he was going to try and put his foot down.

"No!" Lincoln calmly refused. This caused the rest of his family to gasp in complete and utter shock. No one did anything. They didn't know what to do. Lincoln had never defied his family before, especially not his own parents. "That thing smells, it's hot, and it's embarrassing to have to wear in public."

"I literally don't see how that is _our_ problem," Lori uncaringly responded. Several sisters yelled in agreement with her. Seeing this debate was going to take a while, the eldest Loud daughter started texting on her phone.

"So none of you think that has gone too far?" Lincoln angrily asked and let out a cough. "Ever since this whole 'luck' thing started, you've ignored every word I've said and started treating me like a bad omen or a tool and not as a member of this family, or even a human being for that matter. You guys aren't even giving me a choice in the matter!"

"Oh Linky, you _do_ have a choice," Leni said in a sweet and sympathetic sounding tone. "You either wear the lucky squirrel suit and bring us good luck or stay out of the house so you don't bring us bad luck."

"Leni, that's not a choice, that's an ultimatum," the white-haired eleven year old corrected her.

"Lincoln, you know as well as the rest of us that Leni doesn't know what that word means," Lisa told her brother. Everyone else voiced their agreement.

"It's true," Leni admitted.

"Obviously," the boy replied in a bitter tone.

"Now if you don't mind," Lynn said. The tone of her voice sounded like she was growing more agitated by the second. "Get your butt back upstairs and put that suit back on!"

"I told you I'm not wearing that suit anymore!" Lincoln refused. "It's just a _**stupid**_ mascot suit! There's nothing magical about it!"

"Well, _we_ believe it is!" Lola angrily retorted.

"We're not liking your attitude, bro," Luna voiced her complaint.

"Come on, Lincoln," Lana complained. "Don't ruin dinner for us."

"Yeah, don't push your _luck_," Luan giggled at her joke. "Get it?"

Everyone groaned at the comedian's bad joke.

"I tried _so hard_ to be the nice, helpful brother and son that best suited all of you," Lincoln ranted. "I thought you'd all show me a little more appreciation than this!"

"Well, let me tell you something, Lame-o," Lynn said. "Respect isn't a right, it's a privilege. It's something that has to be earned." Hearing this made Lincoln's blood boil. Apparently, by Lynn's standards, after all the good things he's done for his family, he still hasn't earned any respect. "Besides, we all remember it was **you** who caused me to lose my first softball game."

"I keep trying to tell you guys _I'm not bad luck_!" Lincoln furiously yelled. He was _really_ starting to lose patience.

"Then how do you explain that loss? I'm Lynn Loud Jr.! I'm a winner, and winners _**never**_ lose! You even admitted yourself that you're bad luck."

"I told you, I **lied** so I could have some time to myself!"

"Yeah right! Like we're going to believe that," Lynn retorted unconvinced. The others nodded and voiced their agreement with her.

"So me being a jinx is more believable than me lying to all of you just to have some 'me' time?"

"YES!" the rest of the family all said in unison.

Lincoln hung his head in disgust and defeat. How could he think he could ever reason with such backwards-thinking insanity?

"Now, if you won't put on the 'Good Luck' suit," Lynn said in a threatening tone. "Then GET OUT, STINKOLN!"

"Fine," Lincoln replied in a defeated tone. "Lori did tell me 'this family supports itself'. I thought that would've included me as well. I guess I wrong, again."

The sad and sickly white haired adolescent slowly started making his way to the backdoor of the house with his head still hanging. Only his parents, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lucy, Lana, and Lily looked like they were feeling sorry for him.

"How long?" Lincoln asked stopping at the door.

"Until you agree to put that suit back on," Lynn replied.

"No, I mean how long do you think you can keep this up?" Lincoln rephrased his question. This caught the rest of the family off guard.

"What do you mean?" a confused Lana asked.

"Do you think – (cough) Do you think Clyde is going to think it's fair the way you guys are treating his best friend? Do you think Ronnie Anne will be happy with what you're all putting me through? Do you think Pop-Pop will allow you to treat his only grandson like an outcast or an object?" The things Lincoln said got his family to start thinking seriously about this whole situation. A few of them started to look nervous. Others, including Lynn, didn't seem bothered. "If you guys are going to listen to anything I have to say, do it now. What I'm trying to tell you is not everyone will be as superstitious as you are. You _can't_ keep this up forever!"

"Just watch us!" Lynn responded taking her brother's warning as a challenge.

With his last attempt to reason with his insanely superstitious family failed, Lincoln walked out of the house and slammed the backdoor behind him. However, his words didn't have zero effect on the rest of family. Some of them knew there were some truth to his words. There was no way they could keep this up forever. But none of them knew what to do.

"You know, leaving him out there all night won't be good for his health," Lisa said reminding everyone of their sole brother and son's current condition.

"And letting him walk around this house with his bad luck uncontained won't be good for _our_ health," Lynn argued.

"What if he's right, guys?" Luna nervously asked.

"Everything that comes out of that jinx's mouth is bad luck. Don't listen to it," Lynn assured her family. "As long as we have him wear that 'Lucky' suit or keep as far away from us as possible, _nothing_ bad will ever happen. Besides, you all have the Chosen One of the Softball Gods on your side." The more games Lynn won over the past weeks, the more her superstitions grew. It eventually got to the point that she started believing she was some sort of messiah chosen by her '_gods_' to lead Royal Woods into a new age of sports. "Now forget about him. We're got more important things to think about. Like my big championship coming up."

"Well, let's just hope this doesn't turn out just like that 'Dirty Sock' incident," Lana said. This made the rest of the family groan in disgust, gag, and cringe as bad memories flowed through their minds.

"That almost made me lose my appetite," Lucy said with a quiver.

"Lana please, we're just about to eat," Rita scolded her daughter.

"Maybe I should get some towels just in case," Leni suggested.

Outside in the backyard, under the dark and cold night sky, Lincoln once again found himself being unfairly alienated from his family and the cozy warmth of his home. Only this time, it was worse because he was feeling very sick and the cold outdoors wasn't helping his condition.

"I just _had_ to lie about being bad luck," the miserable and sickly white haired boy cursed himself. Despite how cross he was with his family, he knew he had to take some responsibility for the predicament he was in. "Me and my big mouth."

He walked over to the doghouse where the family's Pitbull Terrier, Charles, slept, knelt down and looked in through the doorway.

"Move over, Charles," Lincoln ordered the dog. Just like last time, the canine growled at him. This just made the boy's frustration grow even more. He was not in the mood for this. "I said MOVE!" he demanded more aggressively. This made the growling mutt shake and whimper in fear. However, Lincoln wasn't done. "Some 'Man's Best Friend' _you_ turned out to be! How can you believe in such nonsense like the rest of them?! YOU'RE A DOG! (cough) You're supposed to be loyal to your owners! You know what, Charles? (cough) That makes you a **bad dog**. A very, (cough) _VERY __**BAD DOG**_! And bad dogs don't deserve to sleep under a cozy roof at night. Now _get out_!"

The harsh words in Lincoln's rant hit the Pitbull hard. As he shamefully started walking out of his doghouse, he looked up at his owner with sad, apologetic puppy eyes.

"Go on!" Lincoln said ignoring the look in his eyes. He was not in a forgiving mood tonight.

The shameful mutt walked a few feet from his doghouse, walked around in a circle three times, and lay himself down on the cold grass. He watched as his sickly young owner made his way into the place that once been his sleeping quarters.

Inside the doghouse, Lincoln was struggling to make himself comfortable while angrily complaining to himself.

"Stupid superstitious – (cough)! Lost my family, my room, my dignity, and now I'm sick!" the sickly boy grumbled. "I hope something comes along to finally put an end to this insanity, I don't care what it is." With that, the cold, hungry, sick, miserable adolescent started to fall asleep.

Less than a half hour later, two cars pulled up and parked in front of the Loud House. One of them was a police car and the other was a black SUV. One person stepped out of the police car and two people stepped out of the SUV.

"Shall we go knock on the front door?" asked one of the people who stepped out of the SUV. The voice sounded female.

"No. If this is anything like that 'Dirty Sock' incident, the backdoor is safer," said the person who stepped out of the cop car. The voice sounded male.

While he had finally drifted off to sleep, Lincoln was suddenly woken up by the sound of knocking on the doghouse. Thinking it was his family come to bother him, the boy's anger grew.

"You know guys, I'm getting really sick and tired of … You're not my sisters," Lincoln's anger suddenly turned to nervousness when he poked his head out of the doghouse and saw that the people who had woken him up were _not_ his family. They were a heavy and gruff-looking police officer with a black moustache, a tall and slender dark brown haired woman who appeared to be in her early 40s, and a slender light brown haired man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. Both the man and the woman were wearing dark grey suits with badges containing the initials CPS on them. The woman was wearing a pair of black sunglasses. All three of these people looked very serious and intimidating. "Is there a problem?"

"Is your name Lincoln Loud?" the woman asked.

"Y…Yes," the boy nervously answered.

"Is this your home?" the woman asked pointing to the house.

"Yes," Lincoln answered in an even more nervous sounding tone.

"Is your family home?"

"Y…Y…Yes."

"Do they know you're out here by yourself?" the woman asked in a more disapproving tone of voice that made the already nervous boy even more nervous. "And in this very unhealthy state?"

Lincoln took a huge nervous gulp. When he asked for something to put an end to this madness, this was _not_ what he had in mind. As upset as he was with his family, he didn't think they deserved to be in this kind of trouble.

"Now hold on, this isn't as bad as it look–" the boy tried to explain, but then suddenly burst into long coughing fit. When he finally stopped, he saw that the expressions on everyone's faces meant that they now absolutely sure something wasn't right at this house. "Uh oh!"

The man in the suit grabbed the boy's arm and they all walked up to the backdoor of the house. Lincoln bit his lower lip as the woman raised her hand and knocked on the door.

"Not that jinx again!" he heard Lynn complain.

"Mom! Dad! Make him go away!" he heard Lola yell.

Then he heard his parents' footsteps approaching the door.

"Look Sweetie," he heard his mother's voice behind the door and saw the doorknob turning. "We'll let you back in if you promise to wear that 'Lucky' suit and behaAAAAAVVVVVVEEEEEE!" Rita and Lynn Sr. nearly jumped when they opened the door to find their only son standing with two people in suits and a cop. Lincoln saw that his folks looked just as nervous as he did.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Lynn Sr. nervously asked the policeman.

"Lynn and Rita Loud?" the woman asked sternly.

"That's us," Rita answered nervously.

"I am Brenda, and this is my partner, Derek," the woman introduced herself and her partner. "We are members of Children's Protective Services, and we received a report that a child of this household was being treated unjustly. Is this boy your son?"

"Y…Yes," Lynn Sr. answered. Sweat started dripping from his and his wife's foreheads.

"We found this young man sleeping in the doghouse and he clearly looks like he should be in bed instead of out here where he can even sicker than he already is," Derek told them gesturing to Lincoln.

Both Rita and Lynn Sr. looked extremely anxious as they both realized they were about to be in _big_ trouble.

"Okay, listen, I know this looks bad," Lynn Sr. attempt to reason with their new unexpected guests. "But why don't you come inside and let us explain."

"Why don't _you_ explain it to the judge," the officer said slapping a pair of cuffs on the patriarch's hands.

Lincoln could only watch in horror as his own parents were both handcuffed right before his eyes.

"Lynn and Rita Loud, you have the right to remain silent," the officer told them. "Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law."

"What is literally going on here?!" everyone heard Lori yell.

They turned and saw all ten Loud sisters staring in shock as they watched their parents being handcuffed.

"Girls, I'm afraid you're all coming downtown with us," Brenda told them. "Your parents are under arrest on suspicions of child abuse."

"But Mom and Dad have never done anything bad to us!" Leni protested.

"We just found your brother sleeping outside in your yard," Derek informed the girls.

"Yeah, so?" a confused Lynn Jr. replied.

"There are laws against certain treatment of minors," Brenda told the sisters.

"But Lincoln's never worked in underground tunnels," Leni said.

"Min_**ors**_ not min_**ers**_, Leni," Lisa corrected her sister. "As in a person under the age of 18."

"Yes, and did any of you know that it is illegal in many American states to evict minors from their homes?" Brenda asked in a very stern, disapproving, and intimidating tone.

The Louds sisters could only stand still where they were and sweat with expressions of extreme anxiety and fear on their faces. They knew they were all in _very __**BIG**_ trouble.

"Is Michigan one of them?" Luan nervously asked.

* * *

**Well, it looks like Lincoln's family are about to face the consequences for what they've done. The next chapter, which is the trial, will either be a long one or a two parter. **


	4. Trial Part 1: Court is in Session

**Hi Loud House lovers! Sorry for the long wait. I've been researching on how the American court system works. Since the trial looks like it's going to be lengthy, I've decided to split it into three parts. I've been doing as much research as I can on how American trials work while also trying to write how I think the Louds might behave in this situation. But if any of you think I've overlooked something important, feel free to let me know so I can correct it. Thank you and enjoy.**

* * *

It was late in the morning, and so many people were gathered together at the courthouse in Downtown Royal Woods. So many members of the general public (including Albert, Aunt Ruth, Flip, Chunk, Scoots, the McBrides, and the Santiagos) were filling both sides of the gallery. The jury box stood on the right side of the room and was filled with twelve jurors of different gender, age, and race. The bench where the judge sits was located at the far wall of the room. There was a witness stand on both sides of the bench. There were two desks between the bench and the gallery. The Loud family, with the exception of Lincoln and Lily (who was in the gallery with her grandfather, Albert), were all sitting at the desk on the right with their defense attorney. The defense attorney was a red-haired man in his early to mid-thirties wearing a dark blue suit with a black necktie. At the desk on the left sat Lincoln, who was wearing his light blue suit with his orange necktie and brown shoes with his hair was combed backwards, Brenda, Derek, and the prosecutor, who was a tall man in his mid to late-forties with gray hair and wearing a black suit. The prosecutor was a very charismatic and intimidating man who enjoyed his job and loved breaking his opponents with as much evidence he could dig up. Near the left corner of the room sat the court reporter.

Lincoln didn't look very comfortable. Not just because he was sick, but because he also really didn't want to be there. His family looked like they were feeling the same thing if not more than him.

"Oyez! Oyez!" a bailiff announced to the entire courtroom. "All rise for the honorable Judge Martha."

Everyone got up out of their seats as Royal Woods' judge took hers at the bench. She was a woman in her late 50s, wore glasses and the traditional black court gown, she had stress lines, bags under her eyes, long tear-troughs on her face, and grayish brown hair. She was a very stern woman who took her job very seriously. Once she was seated, everyone else sat back down.

"Court is now in session," the bailiff announced.

"What is the case?" the judge asked.

"The Children's Protective Services vs the Loud family," the bailiff answered reading a paper form.

"What is the charge?" the judge asked.

The prosecutor stood up and addressed the court. "Child abuse, your honor!" The entire courtroom let out appalled gasps. "This family is charged with an awful crime and here are the complainants," the prosecutor said pointing to Lincoln and the two CPS agents.

"You dirty rat!" a furious Lola yelled at her brother.

"You rotten little jinx!" Lynn angrily barked.

"You backstabbing twerp!" a livid Lori shouted.

"To be fair," Lincoln said to the readers. "I haven't gotten a chance to complain about anything since I got here."

"When I get my hands on you, I'll turn you into a –" Lori continued but her threat was interrupted.

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded striking the sound block with her gavel.

"I'll have a Greek salad!" Leni responded. Luan couldn't help but chuckle at her older sister's obliviousness.

"That's not funny!" the judge said glaring irritably at the sixteen year old.

"What's not funny?" a confused Leni asked.

"It was a little funny," Luan commented.

"Kids, please behave yourselves!" a nervous Rita told her daughters. "We're in a courtroom."

"Well, this is going to go well," the defense attorney sarcastically said to himself.

"Just look at this poor lad!" the prosecutor continued while the court reporter took notes. "He has suffered so." His voice had a sympathetic-sounding tone that made people feel pity for the 'complainant'. Lincoln, on the other hand, felt a little uncomfortable with the prosecutor talking about him because he felt that his tone wasn't truly genuine. "His own sisters ostracized and shunned him from their family activities and eventually their lives, treating him like an outcast. And _what_ action did the boy's parents take during this dreadful injustice? Did they discipline their daughters for their mistreatment? No. Did they try to reason with them that what they were doing was wrong and unfair? No! Instead, they decided to take sides with these spoiled delinquents and ban their only son from the warmth and safety of their family home completely!"

The entire courtroom gasped in shock and horror. The court reporter was so shocked that he hesitated for a moment before resuming his note-taking. Lynn Sr. and Rita sank in their seats, both nervous and embarrassed.

"This is a waste of time!" Lynn Jr. complained.

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded and allowed the prosecutor to continue.

"And then, to add insult to injury, they only agreed to let him back into their lives after selling his possessions and forcing him to wear a mascot suit 24 hours a day!" This last line from the prosecutor caused everyone in the courtroom to start murmuring to one another. "Now look at him! The child is clearly not in the best of health," the prosecutor said as Lincoln let out a sickly cough.

"Your honor, this child is in no condition to live outside on his own," Brenda said.

"And being forced to wear that dirty, toasty suit is clearly not helping either," Derek added.

"I can guarantee you, ladies and gentlemen," the prosecutor resumed. "This is not the first time they have behaved in such a manner. In fact, they have quite a history of selfishness, self-absorption, and immaturity. And you will see that everyone who has come into contact with these people has been abused, wronged, and betrayed. This time, they've gone too far. This time, they will answer for their deeds. This time, if the parents of these delinquents won't do their job, then _**we**_ will do it for them!"

"This is a very serious charge," the concerned judge said.

"Oh please," an apathetic Lynn remarked.

"Will the defense attorney make his statement?"

"Your honor," the defense attorney rose. "I find this appalling and unfair. This accusation is preposterous! Look at these people." He pointed to his clients. "They have eleven kids to take care of. The youngest is not present due to being an infant, which makes her the most innocent. But who's to say that the rest of this family is any less innocent? I'm sure some of you have kids of your own, but do you have just as many kids or more than these people? Being a parent is a hard job, but this many children makes it twice, no, _five_ times harder. And _**these**_ people want to make life harder for them than it already is!" The defense attorney pointed to the prosecutor and the two CPS agents. "We're all human beings. We all make mistakes. Even as parents. I find it hard to believe that any parent would put a ridiculous superstition above the safety of their child. Would any parent who's willing to take care of _this_ many kids really stoop so low to commit such an act?" The defense attorney's question made Lynn Sr. and Rita sweat a little. "These people have survived _this_ long in such a big family. But now, the rest of their survival rests on you." With that, the defense attorney took his seat.

"Have you any witnesses, prosecutor?" the judge asked.

"As a matter of fact, your honor," the prosecutor replied. "I do. I'd like to call to the witness stand the victim of this heinous crime, Lincoln Loud."

The ill adolescent walked up and sat in the stand on the right on the bench. He found himself facing the entire courtroom which made him even more nervous than he already was. The bailiff approached the white-haired boy holding a bible in his hands. Lincoln raised his right hand and put his left hand on the bible.

"DoYouSolemnlySwearThatYouWillTellTheTruth,TheWholeTruth,AndNothingButTheTruth,SoHelpYouGod?" the bailiff asked in a fast-paced voice.

"Y… yes," Lincoln reluctantly agreed. He didn't want to get his family into any more trouble than they already were, but he knew he had to tell the truth. He just took the oath.

"Lincoln Abraham Loud," the prosecutor addressed the boy.

"His middle name's Abraham?" Clyde McBride, Lincoln's best friend, asked himself both surprised and impressed. "Wow!"

"Would you kindly tell the court how this all started?" the prosecutor asked. "And don't leave out any details."

Lincoln took a huge gulp before speaking. "Well, you see it was –" But before he could finish his first sentence, he started violently coughing and hacking. His family looked concerned. His voice was weak and it sounded like he was getting worse. For a moment, even Lynn looked a little worried for her brother's condition before going back to giving him a blameful glare. "Sorry about that," Lincoln apologized once his coughing fit was over. "You see, it was like this. It's obvious that I live in a big family. Which means, my sisters all have activities that they want me to attend. With ten sisters, my calendar gets completely booked."

"Hold on, your honor," the defense attorney interrupted. "How do we know the boy is speaking the truth?"

"Which brings me to Exhibit A," the prosecutor announced and snapped his fingers.

The bailiff brought out a projector and a projector screen. He turned on the projector and a slide of Lincoln's calendar appeared on the screen. Sure enough, the days were filled with events associated with his sisters.

"Oh," the defense attorney exclaimed in slight embarrassment. "I rescind my statement."

"As we can all see, Mr. Lincoln's schedule is quite packed," the prosecutor confirmed to the court. "Doesn't leave you with a lot of time to yourself, does it, young man?"

"Nailed it," Lincoln confirmed while sadly lowering his eyes. "I was desperately yearning for a little quality time to myself. However, Lynn wanted me to support her at her baseball game."

"I take it you didn't want to go?" the prosecutor speculated.

"No," Lincoln shamefully admitted.

"Then _what_ made you change your mind that day?" the prosecutor asked. He looked eager to hear what happened next.

"Well," Lincoln nervously replied. "Lynn '_persuaded_' me to change my mind by… threatening to beat me with a baseball bat." This made the courtroom gasp.

"Which brings us to Exhibit B!" the prosecutor announced. Then a slide of a baseball bat appeared on the projector screen. "Young Mr. Loud, can you confirm that _this_ is the baseball bat you spoke of?"

Lincoln took a big gulp. "Yes, (cough) it is."

The rest of the Louds suddenly turned angry and disapproving glares toward Lynn Jr.

"What?" the confused athlete asked.

"So your sister _threatened_ you with physical harm to get you to come to her game?" the prosecutor asked with a grin, he liked where this was going. Lincoln nodded. "And when you attended her game, then what happened?"

"Well, she lost… badly," Lincoln answered with pity in his voice. Being reminded of her loss and sensing her brother's pity made Lynn's blood boil. "After that, she started blaming the entire thing on me. She said I was bad luck. The rest of my family started believing that too. Well, after I started playing along with it."

"Wait, so you actually played along with the slander that was thrown at you?" the confused prosecutor asked. The CPS agents and the judge looked equally confused.

"I desperately wanted some 'me' time. Turns out, lying about being a jinx wasn't the best solution."

"Your honor, he's lying!" Lynn objected. "He didn't lie about being bad luck, he _**is**_ bad luck!"

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded before turning her attention back to the boy. "Please continue."

"It was all fun, but then things started getting lonely," Lincoln continued. "I wanted to hang out with my family again. But by that time it was too late, they no longer wanted to hang out with me anymore. They were so afraid I'd bring them bad luck that they boarded up my room, kicked me out of the house, and sold all my stuff. When I tried to come clean, no one believed. In order to prove I wasn't bad luck, I snuck into the ball game and disguised myself as the mascot."

"Show Exhibit C!" the prosecutor ordered. The bailiff brought in the hideous mascot suit.

"When Lynn won," Lincoln resumed. "I revealed myself. At first, it looked like they finally started to believe me. But then…"

_Lincoln remembered the day he thought he finally convinced his family he wasn't bad luck. Lynn even apologized for her accusations. He was a little upset that they sold his furniture, but he was still happy to finally be accepted back into the family. The family that he missed and wouldn't trade for the world. Everyone joined in a big warm family group hug around their boy._

_ "Wait!" Lynn interrupted the moment. "Maybe I wasn't wrong. Think about it! Isn't it strange that when he first came to my game, we lost? But when he came to this game wearing that suit, we won!" The family looked at her with confused expressions on their faces. "I'm saying that this suit cancels out Lincoln's bad luck and turns it into good luck! Which means if he wears everywhere he goes, good luck will follow!"_

_ "Give it a rest already, Lynn," Lincoln argued. "Do you really think they're going to believe that after everything that's happened?"_

_ "That makes sense," Lisa said._

_ "Yeah, it does," Lynn Sr. voiced his agreement._

_ "What?!" Lincoln exclaimed in disbelief while the rest of the family chatted amongst one another in agreement with Lynn._

_ "That settles it, son," Lynn Sr. said in a happy tone completely oblivious to his only son's misery. "From now on, you're going to wear that suit." The rest of the family agreed._

_ "Dang it," Lincoln said in annoyance. His last attempt to put an end to this madness backfired spectacularly. He had gone from being an outcast to a prisoner and a tool._

"… And that's the whole story, your honor," Lincoln finished.

The judge and many members of the jury felt pity for the poor boy after hearing his story. While they all agreed that lying wasn't the right way for him to get what he wanted, it was nothing compared to how the rest of his family handled the situation. The prosecutor, on the other hand, looked like he was about to burst into laughter.

"All this neglect and abuse over a _**superstition**_?!" the prosecutor exclaimed as he couldn't hold his laughter in any longer. Derek soon joined in with the laughter.

"Laugh if you want, I think it's disgusting," Brenda said disapprovingly to her partner. She found absolutely nothing humorous about any of this.

Eventually, the prosecutor and Derek stopped laughing. The prosecutor then walked over to the table of the accused and looked menacingly down at them. While most of the family looked very intimidated, Lynn Jr. stared back defiantly.

"You expect me to believe that?!" the prosecutor asked in a mocking tone.

"Look bub!" Lynn argued. "There's no way I could've lost that game on my own. I'm Lynn Loud Jr.! I'm a winner! And winners never lose! Before he came, I never lost a single game."

"Well, Miss Lynn," the prosecutor mockingly retorted. "I've never lost a case."

For a moment, Lynn and the prosecutor both exchanged glares at one another. Lynn did not like the prosecutor, and the prosecutor did not like her. Ironically, the two weren't that much different. The prosecutor took great pride in his guilty verdict record just as much as Lynn took great pride in her winning streak. However, unlike Lynn, the prosecutor believed in facts and evidence, not superstitions.

"I object, your honor," the defense attorney came to the defense of one of his clients. "To this harsh antagonism of one of my clients. Let's be real here, the claims about what my clients have done are obvious exaggerations. Lynn Loud Jr. do you really believe your own brother is bad luck and caused all this trouble for you and your family?"

"No, I don't think my brother is bad luck," Lynn answered.

"There, you see?" the defense attorney said trying to appeal to the court.

"I _**know**_ he's bad luck!" Lynn proclaimed. "And he _**is**_ the one responsible for this whole mess my family and I are in!"

"Seriously?!" the defense attorney exclaimed in disbelief and embarrassment that one of the people he was defending had just foolishly proved him wrong.

"Mr. and Mrs. Loud," the prosecutor addressed the intimidated parents. "Is it true that you kicked your only eleven year old son out of your home on account of '_being bad luck_'?"

"Hang on a second," Lynn Sr. spoke. "Now I know this looks bad. But I assure you that my wife and I really do love all our children and would never do anything to hurt any of them. I mean, what kind of father would let anything potentially harmful happen to his own kids?"

"A sad, pathetic, irresponsible excuse of a man!" Aunt Ruth yelled.

Lynn Sr. cringed at his aunt-in-law's harsh words, but he continued his statement. "Look taking care of this many kids isn't easy, even for two parents. But Rita and I are literally 100 percent dedicated to our jobs as parents. We strive to give our children equal amounts of love and attention and we don't play favorites. Sure some things might seem a little questionable to most of you, but it's not our fault, we're doing our absolute best. Rita and I promised we would never get rid of _any_ of our kids. They're the best ten things that ever happened to us."

"There's eleven, dear," Rita corrected her husband.

"Right. The point is we're really good parents. We would never, not in a million years, _ever_…"

"Exhibit D!" the prosecutor ordered.

Before the patriarch could finish his sentence, a slide of Lincoln poking his head out of the doghouse suddenly appeared on the projector screen causing everyone to gasp in horror. One of the CPS agents must've taken a picture of him at the time to use as evidence. Seeing the photo caused the man of the Loud house to stop talking for a moment as shock and anxiety took over. This was _not_ going to make him or his family look good _at all_.

"…kick out more than one," Lynn Sr. sheepishly finished his statement.

The defense attorney face palmed in disgust.

"Are there anymore witnesses?" the judge asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is, your honor," the prosecutor answered with a smile.

* * *

**Well, this is the end of part 1 of the trial. Hope you all enjoyed. The next part will be **_**Witnesses and Testimonies**_**. If any of you have any ideas for witnesses, please let me know. If doesn't have to be only people connected to NSL, it can be anyone who has fallen prey to the Louds' antics.**


	5. Trial Part 2: Witnesses & Testimonies 1

**Hi everyone! Sorry for the wait. You have no idea how hard it was thinking up so many ideas and arranging them in near perfect order. I've decided to turn this chapter into two parts because of its length. I also wanted to thank all of you for contributing your ideas, I've tried to use as many as I could.**

* * *

"Are there anymore witnesses?" Judge Martha asked.

"As a matter of fact, there is, your honor," the prosecutor answered with a smile. "I would like to call to the witness stand, Bud Grouse."

The courtroom doors opened and in walked the Louds' grouchy elderly neighbor, Mr. Grouse. He took the oath and took a seat in the witness stand.

"Mr. Bud Grouse," the prosecutor addressed the witness. "Do you recognize anyone in this room?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," the grumpy old timer answered and pointed to the Loud family. "Those troublemakers are my next-door neighbors. Always causing a ruckus and disturbing the rest of the neighborhood. And _**don't**_ get me started on the 'Dirty Sock' incident."

"Were you aware of what was going on during the last few weeks?"

"Whatever that family does is none of my –"

"_**Did**_ you or did you _**not**_ know what was going on with the Louds during the last few weeks?" the prosecutor asked more aggressively.

"Y…yes, I did," the intimidated Mr. Grouse answered. "I heard they kicked their only boy out for being bad luck."

"So you _**knew**_ what they were doing to that child, and yet you didn't report it to the authorities."

"Well, what they do to each other is none of my business, right?" Mr. Grouse was starting to feel nervous. "They're lousy neighbors, it's not like I owe them anything."

"Funny," the prosecutor said is a doubtful tone. "I heard that _that_ boy once organized a way to give you a great Christmas present: a trip so you could visit your family. And you think, after such an act of generosity, that you don't owe him anything?"

"Well… I…" the now nervous and sweaty old timer stammered.

"That is all. Thank you for your time, Mr. Grouse," the prosecutor dismissed him. Mr. Grouse walked away sweating as he heard people murmuring as he passed by. "Your honor, we would like to call Mr. Hugh to the stand."

"I object, your honor," the defense attorney shouted. "This person was not present at the time of the incident. His testimony is irrelevant."

"Your honor, the prosecution has gone to great lengths and considerable costs to gather these witnesses. It is imperative that we establish that this isn't an isolated incident. It's part of a pattern of this anti-social behavior that has been going on for years."

"Objection overruled," the judge declared.

Sure enough, in walked Hugh, Lincoln's former tutor. As he walked to the witness stand, he sure enough caught the eyes of the Loud sisters and their father.

"Ba…ba…ba…" the infatuated sisters stammered as their faces turned red. Hugh ignored them as he took the oath and then took a seat.

"Tell me, Mr. Hugh," the prosecutor said to the British community college student. "Do you recognize anyone in this room?"

"Yes sir," Hugh politely answered. "That young man over there is Lincoln Loud." He gave the white haired adolescent a friendly smile and waved to him, both which the unhealthy boy returned. "He was struggling in school, so I became his tutor. Such a nice lad, and he's actually smarter than he himself thinks he is."

"Do you also recognize _these_ people?" the prosecutor asked pointing to the rest of the Louds.

Upon seeing the infatuated and love-struck faces of the girls, Hugh's face started turning white and sweaty. "That I do, governor," he nervously replied. "While I was trying to help Lincoln with his studies, his sisters kept trying to get my attention. They kept asking me to help them with other things. I don't even think they really paid any attention to anything I was trying to teach them, most of them just stared into my eyes or something."

"I'm sorry, what was that last part?" a lovesick Leni interrupted. "I was busy staring into your eyes."

"See what I mean?" Hugh continued. "Now things didn't look too bad at first. But they kept insisting and insisting on being around me. It was really uncomfortable." As Hugh explained, most of the sisters snapped out of their lovesickness as it dawned on them that he was testifying against them. "It got even worse when _that bloke_ joined in," Hugh said pointing to the family's patriarch.

"Let the record show that he was pointing to Lynn Loud Sr.," the prosecutor said.

Rita turned to her husband and gave him a face that screamed '_What the Heck_?!' to which he nervously shrugged at as if trying to say '_I have no idea what he's saying_'.

"Things got so crazy, I had to get out of there as fast as I could," Hugh continued. "They even chased me down the street! I thought I'd never lose them!" He then stopped talking and started hyperventilating.

"Easy there," the prosecutor consoled the hyperventilating college student. "Just calm down. So not only did they interfere with their brother's studies, but what they did to you was practically stalking, invasion of personal space, and possible sexual harassment."

"Yes!" Hugh replied as he calmed himself down.

Lori turned her head and saw her boyfriend, Bobby Santiago, glaring at her from the gallery. He obviously did _not_ appreciate his girlfriend making goo-goo eyes at another man. All Lori could do was give him a nervous smile and wave 'hi' to him.

"No further questions, your honor," the prosecutor announced and Hugh was excused.

"Eh, he wasn't that good a tutor anyway," Lynn Jr. remarked.

"We would like to call our next witness, Reggie Jones, to the stand."

"Reggie Jones, who's that?" Lana asked.

"I don't know, dudes," Luna replied.

"Me neither," Luan added.

Even Lincoln didn't who that was.

Then in walked a tall, burly, angry-looking dark skinned man with black short faux hawk hair, a long mustache, wearing a uniform with an apron.

"Hey look, it's the manager of the Super Mart," Leni said noticing him.

"Uh-oh!" the rest of the sisters said in unison when they saw him.

After taking a seat. Reggie was ready to answer some questions.

"Mr. Jones, you are the manager of the Super Mart, correct?" the prosecutor asked.

"Indeed I am," Reggie answered in a serious no-nonsense voice. "I run my store in an orderly fashion, making sure none of my customers cause any trouble. But then, _they_ came! All the roughhousing and noise! They ended up making a huge mess of my store, so I had them banned. Rotten hooligans!"

"So they messed up your store and disrupted your business?" the prosecutor asked for confirmation.

"That's right!" Reggie replied with absolution.

"No further questions asked," the prosecutor announced. Reggie stepped down from the stand and left. "Our next witness is… Lindsey Sweetwater."

"Oh great!" Lola said in an unhappy tone. It was no surprise that her archrival would use this as an opportunity to take her down.

Sure enough, in walked a little girl about Lola's age with long orange hair with curls at the bottom wearing pink lipstick, a teal bow, white pearl earrings, long teal evening gloves, and a teal dress with frills at the bottom. She was also carrying a teal parasol with her. Lindsey and Lola exchanged glares to one another for a moment before she took her seat.

"Miss Sweetwater," the prosecutor politely addressed the young pageant participant. "Is it true that you are familiar with a few of the people in this room."

"That's right," she replied. "I know him," she pointed to Lincoln. "And I _definitely_ know _**her**_!" she pointed to Lola.

"Then tell us, how is it that you are acquainted with Lola Loud?"

"Whenever she wins a pageant, I can _always_ be found right _**behind her**_!" Lindsey explained while clearly trying not to let her frustration get the better of her.

"I object to this witness, your honor," the defense attorney said. "She clearly has some sort of personal vendetta against one of the defendants which makes her unethical."

"Hey, don't all the other witnesses have some sort of grudge against the Louds and yet you let them speak," Lindsey argued. "This is a place where justice is served, where the wronged come to see those who have wronged them pay for their sins. **I** am one such person. I am here because one of those people has wronged _me_!" She pointed at the Louds. Then she put on an adorable sad face with tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "How can you properly punish her for her crimes if you don't know what they are? How can you decide if she's guilty of _this_ crime if you don't know her history? How can I receive the justice that I have long deserved if you won't hear me out?" She then looked to everyone in the courtroom watery puppy dog eyes earning the sympathy of many attendees and jurors.

"Objection overruled," the judge declared.

After wiping her crocodile tears away, Lindsey gave a smug look to Lola which practically said 'Pretty good acting, right?' which made the pageant winner seethe with anger.

"So Miss Sweetwater," the prosecutor spoke. "What terrible things has Miss Loud done?"

"I think the better question is… what _hasn't_ she done?" she responded. So Lindsey told the entire courtroom all the terrible things she knew Lola was responsible for. After that, the prosecution had no more questions to ask and she was excused. As she walked out, she gave her archrival a very smug and triumphant grin which made Lola's face turn red with rage.

"Next, I would like to call to the stand, Roberto Santiago."

Lori's face lit up when she heard the name of her boyfriend. She believed her beloved 'Boo-Boo Bear' would surely try to help her out of this mess. Once he had taken a seat, the 17-year-old Mexican-American was ready for questioning.

"Mr. Santiago, is it true that you well acquainted with a few members of this family?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes sir," Bobby nervously answered. "Lori is my girlfriend, and Lincoln is like the little brother I never had. He also has a relationship with my sister, Ronnie Anne."

Hearing this, both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne's faces turned bright red and they nervously shook their heads in denial.

"Did you accompany them during any of their special events?"

"Well, I did help the whole family support Lynn during one of her ball games."

"But not everyone in that family was there weren't they?"

"N… no," the 17-year-old nervously answered.

"Were you aware that his sisters were recently going through a phase where they believed he was bad luck?"

Bobby gulped nervously. This was a question he didn't want to answer but knew he had to. "Yes. I did."

This made the prosecutor and the judge raise their eyebrows in suspicion. Even Ronnie Anne was giving her brother uncomfortable looks from the gallery. Sensing this made the Mexican-American teenager's anxiety level rise. But luckily, he regained his composure.

"But if I knew what they were doing, I would've done something about it."

"What?!" both Lori and Lynn exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right," Bobby said turning to his girlfriend with a dead serious look on his face. His tone implied that he didn't want to say what he was about to say, but he knew he had to. "Lori, I love you, babe. When you first told me that your brother was bad luck, I believed you. I admit it. _But_ had I known you'd eventually take things too far, kicking him out of the house, I _never_ would've supported it. Now Lori, I don't want to tell you how to be a good big sister to your siblings. But how can you, or anyone else, possibly use superstition as justification to treat someone, your own brother, so inhumanely?! I would _never_ do something like that to Ronnie Anne, no matter what!"

"But… but… Boo-Boo Bear!" the eldest Loud sister pleaded. "I didn't want his bad luck to ruin our relationship!"

Bobby just looked at her with an expression of great disappointment. _That_ was all she could say in her defense?! "You know something, Lori? This whole 'Lincoln is bad luck' thing has caused me to start thinking _very seriously_ about you and me. I go where _you_ want to go. I eat what _you_ want to eat. I watch what _you_ want to watch. I wear what _you_ want me to wear! Don't you think of anyone other than yourself?!"

"I think about _**YOU**_!" Lori replied. Her voice was full of desperation and her eyes were full of tears. "I think about you all the time, Boo-Boo Bear!"

"But you don't think nearly enough about your own siblings. Well, not your brother at least," Bobby retorted. "I'm sorry, Lori. But I can't in good conscience allow you or your family to get away with something like this. It's over."

Hearing that made the eldest Loud sister's heart sink and their eyes leak. This was the second time her boyfriend had broken up with her, but this time it felt more painful.

"Lincoln," Bobby turned to his ex's kid brother. "I'm sorry, bro."

"Me too, bro," Lincoln sadly replied.

"That is all, thank you," the prosecutor dismissed the Mexican-American.

Lori watched with a heavy heart as her once-beloved 'Boo-Boo Bear' returned to his seat. He didn't even look at her as he walked by. Bobby himself was feeling just as much misery as his now ex-girlfriend. He felt he was also to blame for what happened to Lincoln. In some ways, Bobby was a lot like Leni, nice but naïve. He also knew that this wouldn't be the end of it. His little sister, Ronnie Anne, was surely going to have a _talk_ with him later, and it wasn't going to be pleasant. Meanwhile, some of the Loud sisters were trying to cheer Lori up. Lincoln could only watch sadly as his eldest sibling cried her eyes out.

"Don't worry, Lori," Lynn said in a seemingly sympathetic tone. "There's lots of other fish in the sea. Besides, after that, I'm not sure he was really the guy for you."

Just then, Lori's sadness quickly turned into rage. She then picked the insensitive athlete up by the collar of her jersey and started violently shaking her with clenched teeth and fire in her eyes.

"WHAT?! WHAT DID I DO?!" Lynn asked as she was being shook. Lori only stopped when she heard the sound of a gavel hitting a sound block.

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded. "Break it up!"

"Our next witness will be members of the Royal Woods Squirrels," the prosecutor announced.

"Alright!" Lynn exclaimed with excitement. "I'm friends with everyone on my team. They'll definitely vouch for me."

Soon enough, five members of the softball team were at the stand, including Lynn's best friend, Margo Roberts.

"So ladies," the prosecutor addressed the middle school athletes. "Can you tell the court about your team captain, Lynn Loud?"

"She's got skill," said a dark-skinned team member with black hair.

"And she puts a lot of herself in the things she does," Margo added.

Lynn beamed with pride as she listened to the comments from her teammates.

"But that she's also an arrogant idiot," a team member with blonde hair, a ponytail, and buck teeth suddenly said.

"What?!" Lynn honestly didn't expect this. "How dare you! Guys, you won't let that traitor's slander go unchallenged will you?"

"No way!" a portly red-haired team member with buck teeth replied. "She forgot to mention that you're also absolutely insane."

"WHAT!?"

"Lynn, you may have the skills to be a good athlete," said a team member with glasses and orange hair. "But you also have by far the _**worst**_ form of sportsmanship I have ever seen."

"You throw aggressive tantrums when you don't get your way," said the blonde member. "And blame _**everything**_ on someone else."

"You do stupid and annoying dances when you win that are so embarrassing they make victory bittersweet for the rest of us," the portly member complained.

"Your superstitions are the WORST part of you," the dark-skinned member angrily added. "You perform these stupid rituals and force us to participate in them too, like not letting us use the bathroom until after the game!" Hearing this made everyone in the room gasp and exclaim in utter disgust.

"You all know the rules," Lynn argued. "Never go number two until we're number one! And I'm not about to risk victory just so you can feel a little premature relief."

"Well, _I'm_ not going to have to make another appointment to the doctor!" the portly member retorted.

"Every time you make us do this, we have to go see the doctor," the member with the glasses said.

"And he keeps telling us _not_ to do it!" the blonde member angrily added. "He even said that to _you_!"

"Yeah, why do you think I don't see that _quack_ anymore?!" Lynn responded.

"We've had enough of you bossing us around, and we're not going to take it anymore!" the dark-skinned member declared.

"Listen you backstabbing whiners!" Lynn angrily threatened. "I'll do what I want because _I'm_ the team captain, and there's nothing any of you can do about it! Now start defending me and _maybe_ I won't think about kicking any of you off the team." The girls just scoffed at her threat.

"You're so full of it," the blonde member mockingly responded.

"I'm Lynn Loud Jr.!" Lynn furiously declared. "I'm a winner, and winners never lose! I'm Royal Woods' champion of sports! I'm the chosen one of the softball gods! Without me, you guys could _**never**_ hope to win _**anything**_! You owe me for helping you get this far! I command your respect!"

"Well guess what, '_Lynn-sanity_'," the dark-skinned member retorted. "Respect isn't a right, it's a privilege. It's _**earned**_!"

Hearing this made Lynn so mad, she stopped talking and her left eye started twitching with rage. How dare they use her own words against her!

"Hey, that's almost exactly what you said to Lincoln last night," Leni obliviously pointed out making her younger sister's eye twitch even more.

"Sorry Lynn," the member with the glasses said. "But we're not about to ruin our health or our futures just so _you_ can satisfy your ego."

"Margo!" Lynn desperately called to her friend. "Please say you won't let this injustice happen to me. You're my best friend!"

Margo's face did not have a lot of hostility or resentment as the others. Instead, it had traces of disappointment and pity. "Lynn, good friends support each other. But a better friend lets her friend know when she's wrong."

This response made a look of betrayal form on Lynn's face. "So _you're_ against me too?" Then the look of betrayal turned into a look of anger. To Lynn, this felt more like an insult than friendly advice. "Fine, I don't need you. I DON'T NEED ANYONE!"

Lynn's outburst hit Margo like a giant semi-truck. Tears formed in her eyes as her heart broke in two. Unlike the other team members, Margo genuinely considered Lynn her friend and wanted to help in any way she could. Even if it meant trying to get her to see the error of her ways, which now looked like an impossible task.

After it was clear that no further questions were needed, the five girls were dismissed. Every one of them, with the exception of the heartbroken Margo, glared at Lynn as they walked by. Even the rest of her family looked quite appalled by the things she said. Lincoln, who had witnessed the whole thing shook his head in sadness and pity. His sister's uncontrollable ego was destroying everything.

For a moment, Lynn actually felt some remorse for what she said to her friend. But her ego told her it was too late and she hardened her heart. Right now, she had to focus on taking care of number one: herself.

"Your honor, our next witness is the coach of the Royal Woods Squirrels," the prosecutor announced and in walked Lynn's softball coach.

"Finally!" Lynn exclaimed with relief. "He'll sort this out."

"Sir," the prosecutor addressed the man. "Would you kindly tell us about Lynn Loud?"

"Well," the coach began. "She's got skill and confidence, can't argue with that. Although, quite a few of the other members of the team have made a lot of complaints about her. One of the biggest ones is that she takes her superstitions too far. Now I don't care whether my players believe in these things or not, as long as it doesn't interfere with our team's progress. However, some have even threatened to quit the team if I didn't do something about it. Now I've known Lynn for quite some time, and have always considered her the best on the team. However, recent events have made me realize she wasn't quite what I thought she was."

"Was it when you heard about what she did to her brother?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes, but I really started to suspect something was wrong…" the coach turned his attention to the Louds with a very disapproving look. "…when her family _**stole**_ the mascot suit."

Hearing this made the entire courtroom gasp in shock. Lynn Sr., Rita, and most of the sisters sank in their seats while the defense attorney stared at them in disbelief.

"Take a note that Exhibit C is also stolen," the prosecutor ordered the court reporter.

"But coach," Lynn pleaded. "I need that thing more than anyone!"

"Lynn," the coach began. "I have been able to tolerate your _fantasies_ until now. This time, you've taken things too far. You've embarrassed the Royal Woods Squirrels."

"I'm the one who _carries_ the Royal Woods Squirrels!" the athlete argued. "Listen, if Lincoln hadn't come that day, we would've never lost that game. Without that suit, he's a ticking time bomb of bad luck. Just look at him!" She pointed accusingly to her brother, who had his face buried in his hands. "I bet he's thinking about what kind of horrible luck to bestow upon us as we speak!"

"_Something bad happens, everyone blames me, things get out of control, I get sick, and now the authorities are involved_!" Lincoln anxiously thought to himself. "_This has all turned into a big giant mess! It's just like that 'Dirty Sock' incident, only this time I don't think Clyde brought the towels_!" Then he turned to Derek. "Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to have a towel on you by chance would you?"

"Your teammates are right, Lynn," the coach said. "While you may be the best athlete on our team, you've behavior is absolutely unprofessional and unsportsmanlike. When a team suffers a loss in a game, _they_ are the ones who have to take responsibility for it. There is no bad or good luck involved, nor are there any '_softball gods_'."

"BLASPHEMY!" Lynn screamed.

"Order in the court!" the irritated judge demanded.

"And because of your atrocious behavior," the coach continued. "I feel I have no choice but to kick you off the team." Everyone in the family, including Lincoln, gasped in shock and horror at this declaration. Sports were everything to Lynn, and not being able to do even one was like a bite from a venomous snake.

"You _**CAN'T**_ do this!" Lynn anxiously begged. "You need me! I'm the only one who can win the championship! I'm the one _**chosen**_ by the softball gods!"

"My decision is final!" the coach refused.

"Then you have brought the wrath of the gods down upon us all!" Lynn angrily declared.

"I think we've heard enough," the prosecutor interrupted and dismissed the coach.

Lynn sat in her seat pouting as her now former softball coach walked away with a look of great disappointment on his face. Lynn felt completely betrayed by her friends, teammates, and now her coach. The only beings she felt she could still rely on were the gods she claimed to serve.

"We would now like to call in Dr. Quinn," the prosecutor announced.

"Oh great!" Lynn groaned in displeasure. "Dr. _Quack_!"

A tall slender man with brown hair and a moustache, wearing a white lab coat, a red necktie, a head mirror, and a stethoscope walked in. He immediately shot an angry look at the Louds before taking the stand.

"Doctor," the prosecutor addressed the man. "Would you tell us about your history with the defendants?"

"Well, Lynn Jr. used to be one of my patients." The man's tone implied that he did not have very fond memories of her. "Despite what she may claim, Lynn has a lot of health issues, such as the damage she's causing her digestive system by refusing the use the bathroom when her body tells her." As the doctor talked, Lynn made mocking mimicries of him with her hand. "Aside from her physical issues, her mental issues are the biggest problem. She is by far the most stubborn patient I've ever had. When I try to help her, she insults me and ignores everything I say. In our last appointment, I tried showing her an x-ray of the state of her digestive system. She refused to take even _one_ look at it, claiming it would be '_bad luck_'."

"Where did you get your doctor's license, from a print shop?!" the athlete mocked him.

The doctor glared to her for a brief moment before continuing. "And when I tried to tell her parents, they thought it would be a better idea to listen to _her_ rather than a professional who knew more than anyone about this matter. Now look what their ignorance has caused!" Then the doctor stood up and started waving his index finger disapprovingly at the family. "Shame on you!"

Lynn Sr. and Rita sank in their seats, embarrassment and shame plastered all over their faces.

"Thank you doctor, that will be all," the prosecutor dismissed the man. "The next witness is Bruno Arachnia."

"Who's that?" Lola asked.

"The name doesn't register in my hippocampus," Lisa said. "It doesn't ring a bell."

"Where have I seen that name before?" Lynn Sr. asked himself. Apparently the name sounded familiar to him.

Then in walked a big, portly man with a brown beard and hair with a ponytail, wearing a dark blue suit, black gloves and boots, a fumigator, and a pair of goggles on his forehead.

"The Spider Exterminator!" all the Loud siblings, including Lincoln, exclaimed in unison.

"Mr. Arachnia," the prosecutor began. "Are you familiar with these people?"

"Yes I am," Bruno answered in a rugged voice. "I was called to exterminate a nasty little spider, but then those brats started interfering with my business. I pride myself on not letting even a single spider get away. But thanks to them, the spider got away and my job was never completed. Rotten little spider huggers!"

"No further questions," the prosecutor said dismissing the exterminator. "Now call in the next witness."

The person who entered the courtroom next was the lifeguard of the Royal Woods Community Pool. "They had chicken fights during Senior Swim," he said angrily.

The next person to testify was the lifeguard from Huntington Oaks Community Pool. "They put celery and carrots in the pool water and _drank_ it!" he furiously said.

Next was the lifeguard from the Hazeltucky Community Pool. "FECAL! INCIDENT!" she lividly screamed and made everyone gasp and retch in disgust.

The next person was a male police officer. "We get reports about trouble caused by these people _every_ week. Dangerous pranks on April Fools' Day, illegal experimentations, blackouts from using too much electricity, property damage, disturbing the peace, noise pollution. These things happen so much that we have a keyboard shortcut for reporting incidents involving them. Ctrl + L + S!"

Next was a man with light brown hair, a teal shirt, and brown pants. "Her snake bit me on the nose!" he said pointing to Lana.

Next was the manager of the IT office where Lynn Sr. worked. "_Every_ 'Take Your Kids to Work Day' he brings those little monsters and it's chaos, _chaos_, _**CHAOS**_!" he furiously ranted.

"Call to the stand Agnes Johnson," the prosecutor ordered.

In walked, to Lincoln's surprise, his own fifth-grade teacher.

"Now Mrs. Johnson, is it true that you acquainted with a few members of this family?" the prosecutor asked.

"Indeed I am," Mrs. Johnson answered. "Lincoln Loud is one of the most dedicated students in my class, always doing his best to complete any assignment I give him. His sisters on the other hand, have been quite troublesome in the past. One time, one of them dropped a bucket of water on me for a prank. Another time his family was wasting energy, they were completely in the red zone. I guess they don't have hearts to want to save the poor polar bears. Then when Lincoln's sister, Lisa, attended our class, she became very offensive and disruptive causing disturbances around the school."

At first, Lincoln felt a little flattered listening to his teacher testify on his behalf. But as she continued, his tiny smile faded away and turned into a big appalled expression as he heard a few things he didn't like at all. "Your honor!" Lincoln interrupted having heard enough. Everyone turned their attention to him. "I would like to object to this witness." Everyone gasped in surprise. "And I would like everything she said stricken from the record." No one expected this.

"Lincoln, I'm trying to stick up for you," Mrs. Johnson said in a scolding tone.

"That's funny," a displeased Lincoln retorted. "Let me ask you something, Mrs. Johnson. During that time when my family was wasting energy and in the red zone, _who_ did you (cough) who did you _really_ blame for that?"

"Uhh… you," she nervously answered. This made the jury and the people in the gallery start murmuring to one another.

"That's right. And _what_ did you do when Luan dumped that bucket of water on you?"

"I gave you an A-."

"Correct, you gave _me_ an A-. And when Lisa was going through her '_average_' phase, _who_ did you all blame for that? Because it _wasn't_ Lisa."

"It was you," Mrs. Johnson replied lowering her eyes to the floor.

"I also noticed you neglected to mention the 'Girl Guru' incident," Lincoln crossly brought up. "The time when Clyde and I (cough) when Clyde and I were trying to start a business. We originally planned on selling chocolate pies, but when my sisters ate all the chocolate, we had to come up with something else. Things weren't doing well and we were running low on options. Then Liam gave me the 'Girl Guru' idea. So I thought, having spent my entire life with so many sisters, I could –" Suddenly, Lincoln stopped to let four terrible-sounding coughs. "Whoa! Feels like I'm getting worse every minute," he remarked to himself before continuing what he wanted to say. "I thought I could sell girl advice to the boys at school, and we all remember how _that_ all turned out. Now I admit, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and I'm sorry for any harm I caused. I'm still only eleven. But _what_ did _you all_ do in the end? Did you all accept my apology and let bygones be bygones? No! In order to ensure that you all wouldn't do worse to me, I had to make a business where you all could pay to throw salt and vinegar pies at me, and no one hesitated to take that opportunity. Not even YOU! Am I remembering that correctly?!" After hearing that, so many jurors and gallery members let out appalled and disgusted gasps and exclamations.

"Well… we… uh… I…" Mrs. Johnson anxiously struggled to come up with an excuse.

"You know something, Mrs. Johnson?" Lincoln interrupted. "I noticed that you and everyone else at school, with the exception of Clyde, all have something in common with my family. You all act like you have some right to life working towards your goals the way you see fit, and when things don't go your way you get to behave any way you want, and _someone_ always has to be the scapegoat! Almost _NOTHING_ goes right for me. But you don't see me calling anyone else a 'polar bear hater'. You don't see me threatening to turn anyone into a human pretzel. You don't see me throwing pies at anyone. You don't see me accusing anyone of being 'bad luck'. I can only do so much in a family like mine, and if you think that's not good enough, then you need to _**CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE**_!" Once he was finished with his rant, the sick boy burst into another coughing fit.

The entire courtroom was rendered speechless by Lincoln's outburst. Even Lynn and the prosecutor were completely stunned. A few other members of the Loud family started to feel that maybe they hadn't been treating Lincoln quite as fairly as they thought.

"Well… um… objection sustained," the judge awkwardly declared.

With that, Mrs. Johnson was dismissed, the court reporter erased her testimony, and she was forced to leave the courtroom in shame.

"Well… the next witness is… the man who reported this incident to the authorities, Mr. Morris," the still shocked prosecutor announced. In walked the stylist of the Big Department Store himself with a sad expression on his face. This was a surprise to both Leni and Lincoln. After taking the oath, he sat in the witness stand. "Mr. Morris, you were the one who reported the treatment of this boy to the authorities, correct?"

"Yes, it was," Morris sadly answered.

"So it was _**you**_?!" an angry Lynn yelled. "You lousy, backstabbing, two-timing, –"

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded.

"Lynn, that's not a nice thing to say to Morris!" Leni scolded her younger sister.

"Leni, he betrayed you!" Lynn argued. "And us! And _me_!"

"I'm sure there's a totes good reason to all this," Leni said optimistically.

"Tell us, Mr. Morris," the prosecutor continued. "How did you find out about what they were doing?"

"It was at the department store," Morris explained. "Leni was shopping with her friends, had her brother with her in that ugly squirrel suit. Then she confessed everything right to us."

"LENI!?" the rest of the family said in shocked unison.

"What?" the confused fashionista asked.

"Why did you tell them, Leni?!" an aghast Lori asked.

"It's not like we did anything bad, right?" Leni replied. This caught the attention of everyone else in the courtroom.

"Leni?!" a shocked Morris said. "Do you really have no idea _why_ you and your family are here?"

"Well, at first I thought we were here to order food. Then I thought this might be a place to play tennis or some other sport, but that like hasn't happened at all and this clearly doesn't look like the kind of place where you play those sports."

_Everyone_ was completely dumbstruck by the 16-year-old's incredible cluelessness. All this time, she had no idea what she and her family did wrong or why they were all here.

"Haven't you been listening to _anything_ anyone has said here?!" the shocked defense attorney asked.

"I have, it just doesn't make any sense," a confused Leni answered.

"How does _none_ of this make sense to you?!" the prosecutor exclaimed in a very annoyed tone and approached the second oldest Loud sister. "You. And your family. Kicked. Your 11-year-old brother. Out of your home! _**That**_ is an act that is illegal in many American states."

"But is Michigan one of them?" Leni replied with a question.

"_**WHAT**_!?" The prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the judge couldn't believe their ears.

"My sister, Luan, asked those people that question before they brought us here," Leni explained pointing to the CPS agents. "They never answered her."

Both Brenda and Derek were completely baffled. "Is she for real?!" Derek asked Lincoln who was currently burying his face in his hands in embarrassment.

"Leni, I know it's difficult for you to understand sometimes," Morris sadly told her with pity in his voice. "But you should know that you and your family can't do _anything_ you want and expect to get away with _everything_. When you finally understand, I want you to know that I'm not sorry for what I did. But I am sorry I had to do it."

"Thank you Mr. Morris. That will be all," the prosecutor dismissed the stylist. With that, Morris left with a look of heartbreak on his face. Leni watch sadly as he went by. She wasn't sad because she understood, she was sad because she still _didn't_ fully understand. "We would now like to call Jeffery to the stand."

"Who's that again?" Luan asked.

"I literally don't know," Lori replied.

Then in came a short man with brown hair, thick black eyebrows, a beard, wearing a light green suit, a blue necktie, and brown shoes.

"Hey, isn't that –" Leni said recognizing the man.

"Uh oh!" both Loud parents exclaimed in horror. "The Spa Manager!"

"They came to the Spa for the weekend," Jeffery explained. "I had them kicked out the very next day. They caused all sorts of problems. Breaking the elevators, contaminating the pool, impersonating employees, booking the entire massage facility for stuffed animals, messing with the power box, disturbing guests and staff, property damage!" As he went on, all the Loud siblings, including Lincoln, hung their heads in shame. This was one of the few accusations they all genuinely felt remorse for. Their parents saved up so much for a relaxing weekend only for it to be cut very short, and they felt it was their terrible behavior that had caused it.

"Would you mind telling the court what was the absolute last straw, Mr. Jeffery?" the grinning prosecutor asked.

"Surprisingly, it wasn't something the kids did," Jeffery said which snapped the Loud siblings out of their guilt and caught their attention. "Security footage caught their parents going down to the pool at night to… '_enjoy_' themselves!" Hearing this caused everyone in the courtroom to gasp, exclaim, and retch in shock and disgust.

"Oh My GOD!" Aunt Ruth exclaimed in absolute shock.

Howard McBride fainted into Harold's arms.

Albert face palmed in sheer disgust and embarrassment at hearing what his daughter and her husband did.

Lynn Sr. and Rita both hung their heads in shame and embarrassment. To make things worse, their own children started angrily chastising them. Lincoln also participated in the chastising, but then it turned into another coughing fit. The kids really let them have it. All this time they thought what happened at that hotel was ENTIRELY _their_ fault. But now they knew the truth. Despite their parents having told them to behave themselves during that time, they clearly didn't take their own advice.

"Why didn't I take that armed robbery case?!" the defense attorney asked himself as he buried his face in his hands.

"Order in the court! Order in the court!" the judge demanded until everyone became silent. Then she started massaging the bridge of her nose. This entire case was becoming increasingly stressful.

"They're the worst people I've ever had the displeasure of meeting in my entire life!" Jeffery furiously concluded. "I hope you send them away for a _LONG_ time!" Then he turned to the Loud parents. "So long Mr. and Mrs. La-ood, hope you _enjoy_ yourselves in the Royal Woods Prison. You dirty cheapskates!"

"That will be all, thank you," the disturbed prosecutor dismissed the spa manager.

"I think we've heard enough witnesses," the judge said still rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Agreed your honor," the defense attorney agreed.

"For once, something the defense and the prosecution can agreed upon," the still disturbed prosecutor commented.

"Your honor, if it pleases the court," the defense attorney requested. "I would like for my clients to step up and give their own testimonies. If we listen to their side of the story, then we might be able to see that they truly are inno… um… not _quite_ as guilty as they appear to be."

The judge waited for a moment to hear any objections from the prosecution. She heard none. "No objections."

* * *

**Thank you for reading. Hope you found it enjoyable. Now go ahead and read the next part. BTW, the L in the keyboard shortcut stands for "Louds" and the S stands for "Sucks".**


	6. Trial Part 2: Witnesses & Testimonies 2

**Here's the second part of the next chapter. Just to let you know, Lynn technically isn't lying. She's saying what she believes is the truth.**

* * *

Judge Martha waited for a moment to hear any objections from the prosecution. She heard none. "No objections."

"Miss Leni," the defense attorney spoke to the Loud girl he hoped would most likely win the hearts of the court with her adorable naivety. "Will you kindly step forward?"

Leni stood up and took _one_ step forward. "How's this?"

"No, prepare yourself for the witness box," he rephrased his request. Now he was starting to reconsider his decision.

Leni approached the bench and the bailiff approached her with bible in hand.

"Raise your right hand," the bailiff instructed. Leni complied. "Now put your left hand here." She put her left hand on the bible. "DoYouSolemnlySwearThatYouWillTellTheTruth,TheWholeTruth,And NothingButTheTruth,SoHelpYouGod?"

"What?" the confused fashion designer asked.

"DoYouSolemnlySwearYouTellTheTruth,TheWholeTruth,AndNothingButTheTruth?"

"Is this one of those 'make you say what' games?"

The bailiff was getting impatient. "DoYouSolemnlySwearToTellTheTruth,TheWholeTruth,And NothingButTheTruth?!"

"Why don't you answer him?" the judge asked.

"He's like speaking another language," Leni replied. "I don't know what he's saying."

"He's asking you if you swear –"

"Of course not! That's a bad habit."

"He's asking you if you _promise_ to tell the truth," the impatient judge said.

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

"Just take the oath."

Once more, the bailiff repeated himself.

"Sure, I'm like totes an honest person," Leni finally answered.

"Finally. Now take the stand," the judge ordered.

The clueless 16-year-old walked over and picked up the chair from the witness box. "Where should I put it?" she asked. "I think it would totes look great in that corner over there."

"No! No! _Take_ the stand!" the annoyed judge repeated her order.

"I got it. Now what?"

The bailiff, having had just about enough, snatched the chair from the girl and put it back in its place. "Sit down!"

"Oh, why didn't you say that in the first place?" Leni asked as she finally took her seat. The judge and bailiff both face palmed in annoyance. The rest of the family and the defense attorney, who had watched the entire scene, began to look nervous and embarrassed.

"Now Miss Leni," the defense attorney spoke to the young fashion designer. "When we ask you questions, would you kindly answer them in your own words concerning your side of the incident?"

"I object, your honor," the prosecutor objected. "The defense is trying to influence what _he_ wants her to say."

"Preposterous!" the defense attorney disagreed. "I'm only instructing her to explain to the court what she experienced in an honest and understandable manner."

"Objection overruled," the judge declared.

"Okay Miss Leni," the defense attorney said. "Now please tell us about this whole '_bad luck_' incident you and your family went through, and don't leave out any details."

"Well it was like this, Miss Judge, –" the young fashionista began.

"Address the judge as 'your honor'," the defense attorney corrected.

"Well it was like this, my honor, –"

"_Your_ honor, not _my_ honor!" the defense attorney corrected again in a more irritated tone.

"Why? You're not that bad a person," the clueless fashion-obsessed teen replied.

"Just let the defendant proceed," the impatient judge insisted. "The court understands her."

"Well, it all started the day Lynn lost her ball game," Leni explained. "Then when Lincoln warned us of his bad luck, we all decided to take measures to make sure his bad luck wouldn't infect the rest of us. When that wasn't enough, we did the only humane thing we could do: we made him live outside like an animal and got rid of his stuff as if he never lived in our home."

The defense attorney was at a complete loss for words. How could she say that so calmly and pleasantly as if she were telling a bedtime story to her younger sisters?! "You still don't understand what you did wrong, do you?"

"It doesn't feel any worse than other things that have happened to him."

"Hold on!" the prosecutor interrupted. "Let the record show that she just admitted that this isn't the first time they've treated the complainant like this."

"Okay, if I explain everything then you all will understand that things aren't completely out of the ordinary," the fashionista said with a sweet and innocent smile. "Most of the time, Mom and Dad hide in their room, so Lincoln picks up the slack for everyone. One time Lincoln accidentally walked into Lori's and my room, and she threatened to turn him into a 'human pretzel'. Just a normal sibling relationship. Another time, he posted an embarrassing video of us on the internet, but we eventually forgave him after he did the same thing to himself. Then half of us wanted to go to Dairyland and the other half wanted to go to Aloha Beach, so we pressured Lincoln to be the tiebreaker. When he couldn't chose, he made it up to us by doing all sorts of favors for us when we went to Scratchybottom Campgrounds instead. There was also the time we fought with him over the 'Sweet Spot' in Vanzilla. There was also the time he tried to teach how to drive until Lori sabotaged it. I can also remember the time the toilet got clogged with a Princess Pony book, we blamed him for it. We teased him about it for weeks." A few people, including most of the Loud sisters, chuckled at that much to Lincoln's embarrassment. "One time he bought a pair of earphones so he could ignore us, but Lola came up with a plan to have us prank in order to teach him a lesson. These also the time we fought him over money. The time Lori forced him to go on a double-date. The time Luan, Luna, Lynn, and Lucy hooked him up with multiple dates. There was also the time Lucy scared him with a fortune-telling card. Oh, and let's not forget the time Lori and I had a fight over buying the same dress, and we decided the only he could help resolve that was to leave the house. I also remember when we blamed him for Lisa acting average. There was a moment, where we kicked him out of the van and made him walk home for a few blocks. Aside from Lynn roughhousing with him, me using him as a mannequin, Lori calling first dibs on everything because she's the oldest, Luan pranking him, Lisa using him for her experiments, Lola making him do whatever she wants, he also takes responsibility for when things don't go our way and works his hardest to make us happy even when he gets nothing in return."

As she thoughtlessly told her statement, Leni completely failed to take notice of the facial expressions of everyone in the room. They were all completely jaw-dropped with shock. Not just by the things she just said, but by the tone in which she told them as well. How could she tell them ALL those disturbing things as if she were telling her friends how a wonderful vacation in Hawaii had gone?! Was she _trying_ to get the guilty verdict?!

"You know, when she puts it that way…" a shocked and disturbed Lincoln said.

"Suddenly _really_ happy I'm being homeschooled right now," an embarrassed Lola said to herself.

"So now do you all see? We're just a normal family having perfectly normal times together," the airheaded teen happily concluded.

"Oh my god, why am I defending you people?!" the disturbed defense attorney asked under his breath.

"Tell me, Miss Leni," the prosecutor spoke. "How do you think your brother feels about all that?"

"Oh, Lincoln's fine," she assured him. "He's happy and satisfied just like the rest of us. Aren't you, Linky?"

Lincoln wasn't comfortable with this. He knew his second oldest sister would not take the truth very well. It felt like he was telling a sensitive little kid that Santa Claus doesn't exist. Unfortunately, it had to be said. "Actually Leni, I've never been more miserable in my entire life than I am now."

"What?!" the fashion designer exclaimed both shocked and confused. "But how can you be miserable when the rest of us are just fine?"

"Have you or anyone else in your family _ever_ asked your brother what _he_ likes, what _he_ wants, what makes _him_ happy?" Brenda asked. "Have you ever asked him what he _doesn't_ like or what makes him _**miserable**_?"

After thinking about the question for a moment, Leni found herself rendered speechless as a disturbing realization hit her. "But… but he agreed without complaint," she finally replied in a nervous tone.

"Because none of you would give him a choice!" Brenda responded.

"But he _does_ have a choice!" Leni argued. Her tone was now filled with anxiety. "He either wears the suit that brings good luck or lives outside to keep away the bad luck."

"That's not a choice, it's an ultimatum!"

"I don't know what that word means," the nervous fashionista sheepishly replied.

"It is a demand or a threat to someone that if they don't comply, something unpleasant will happen to them," the prosecutor explained.

"Superstition is not a good reason to treat someone the way you and your family treated your brother," Derek said.

"It isn't?" Leni asked genuinely surprised and confused.

"Put yourself in your brother's shoes," Brenda told Leni. She was really getting tired of the girl's incredible foolishness. "How would YOU feel if the same things happened to you?"

After a moment, the 16-year-old fashion designer's eyes went wide with shock and horror as she finally got a perfectly good idea what her little brother had been through and how he felt about all of it. It finally dawned on her that what she and her family did to him wasn't normal at all. It finally hit her that she had _**not**_ been a very good sister, at all.

"And by the way," Derek added. "That kind of treatment towards a child _**IS**_ illegal in Michigan, just like many other American states." Hearing this made the already remorseful girl feel even worse.

"I… I didn't know," Leni said with tears beginning to fall from her eyes. She was really getting choked up. "No one ever told me! I didn't think anyone would be bothered by it! Please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be a criminal and a mean sister! I love my brother, Landon!"

"I think we've heard enough," the unamused prosecutor said.

As he watched his second eldest sibling hysterically cry, plead, and apologize, Lincoln couldn't help but feel sorry for Leni. Despite the part she played in everything, he knew deep down she was not a bad person. Her naivety just made it very easy for others to take advantage of her. On a list of which sisters who would be punished unfairly or more than they really deserve, Leni would be at the top second only to Lily.

The self-disgusted teen was taken back to her seat to rejoin the rest of her family. "Why didn't any of you tell me what we were doing was wrong?" she tearfully asked them. None of them knew how to answer that question.

"Well… the defense would now like to call Luna Loud to the stand," the defense attorney nervously announced. The most musical member of the family walked up and took a seat. "Miss Luna, could tell us about your relationship with your brother?"

"Course governor," Luna answered in her British-styled accent. "Lincoln is my baby bro, and I love him. That is all we need and it can't be bought."

"So when you ostracized him, kicked him out of your home, sold his belongings, and forced him to wear a ridiculous costume, you call _that_ love?" the prosecutor accusingly asked.

"Well I was… uh… I… I just…" the 15-year-old rocker struggled to come up with an understandable excuse. Unfortunately, she had none and just hung her head in shame. "We never meant any real harm."

"That hardly excuses anything," the prosecutor coldly replied. "I think we're already done here, so let's move on. We have nine more of these people to hear from. Not that it'll make any difference."

Once Luna was dismissed, Luan was called to the stand.

"Miss Luan, would you please tell the court how you feel about this case?" the defense attorney asked.

"I feel guilty," the young comedian said in a remorseful sounding tone which caught everyone's attention.

"Guilty of what?" the concerned defense attorney asked.

"Theft." This caused many people to gasp in shock.

"Theft?!" this caught the defense attorney off guard. "What is it that you stole?"

"A quarter."

"From who?"

"You!" Luan said suddenly dropping her remorseful façade and pulling a quarter out of the defense attorney's ear. "See what I did there?" she chuckled. "I'm just kidding, here you go," she offered the quarter back.

The defense attorney just face palmed. It was as if he was saying '_oh great, it's one of __**those**__ people_!'

"Oh no," Lincoln said knowing just where this was going.

"Now I'm sure some of you might think my family is guilty," Luan said. "But aren't we _all_ guilty of something?" Then she let out a chuckle. "Hey judge, I've noticed you use that gavel a lot. Ever thought of maybe becoming a carpenter?" She chuckled again. "Get it?" Unfortunately, the judge was _clearly_ not amused by the 14-year-old comedian's inappropriately timed jokes. Nor was anyone else.

"Enough!" the prosecutor yelled unable to take anymore. "This is _**not**_ a comedy show. It's _**NOT**_ a laughing matter!" Then he approached the jokester. "Tell me, Miss Luan. Do you find child abuse funny? Well, do you?!"

"Now hold on," she said in a more serious sounding tone. "It's not as bad as you think it is. We Louds may cause a few commotions here and there, we're a big family after all. But we would never go as far as to break any laws to solve our problems. We deal with them the only way any good American would, the 'honest' way."

"And _what_ is the '_honest_' way?" the prosecutor asked with menacing curiosity.

"Wow, I'm surprised YOU of all people doesn't know that!" Luan said changing right back to her comedic tone and started laughing. She actually managed to make a few people in gallery laugh too. The prosecutor, on the other hand, was furious. She had tricked him into walking into another one of her jokes and make him the butt of it.

"YOUR HONOR, I –" the angry prosecutor was about to make a demand but was silenced by the judge pounding her gavel.

"Has the defendant _anything_ to say in her defense?" the judge asked. One could see she was trying very hard to be patient.

"Miss Luan, I implore you to take this seriously," the defense attorney pleaded.

"Alright," the young jokester begrudgingly agreed. "Lincoln is my brother and I love him. But I just everyone to know that, while my family and I have our moments, so does he. He is not as innocent or sympathetic as those guys are portraying him as. He's made a few questionable and not-so-selfless decisions that have had rather ruinous consequences, like trying to flush a _Princess Pony_ book down the toilet so we wouldn't find out he reads it." Then she started laughing again. Lincoln looked very unamused as he heard kids and young members of the gallery chuckling at his expense.

"Your honor, I object!" the prosecutor declared. "She is once again trying to turn this trial into a circus!"

"What?! No I'm not," Luan denied. "It can't be a circus with just _one_ clown. Unless _you_ would like to become my partner." Then she started chuckling. "Get it?" The livid prosecutor was about to say something, but was stopped by the judge pounding her gavel. He begrudgingly decided to return to his seat.

"Order in the court! Order in the court!" the judge demanded. She had just about lost her patience. "So help me, I will clear the room!"

_**PPPPPFFFFFFTTTTTT!**_

The room suddenly went silent as a flatulent-sounding noise coming from the prosecutor's seat as he sat down.

"What the…?!" the prosecutor got up and found a whoopee cushion on his seat. "How did…?!"

"Be careful, _he_ might clear the room first!" Luan said before bursting into laughter. The prosecutor was _**so**_ mad his face turned red and he was rendered speechless.

"I think we've heard enough!" the extremely annoyed judge declared. "Please call up the next defendant."

Luan was returned to her seat where she was met with the disapproving glares of her family and the defense attorney. The 14-year-old comedian masked her nervousness by chuckling and making puns. The truth was Luan was actually more nervous than she seemed. Just like her sister, Luna, she had no excuses for her treatment of Lincoln during the 'luck' fiasco. She thought she could win over the court with jokes and laughter. However, she was now realizing that was _not_ a very good idea.

"We would now like to call Lori Loud to the stand," the defense attorney announced still clearly embarrassed by the way Luan behaved.

Nothing happened. Then they looked over and saw that she was texting on her phone pay no attention to anyone. Soon the bailiff came over and snatched the handheld object right out of her hands.

"Hey, I was literally in the middle of a text!" she angrily complained. However, the bailiff glared down at her and pointed toward the witness stand. "Oh, is it literally my turn now? Sorry about that," she nervously apologized and proceeded to the stand.

"Miss Lori," the defense attorney addressed the eldest Loud sister. "Can you please explain to the court what the relationship between you and your brother is like?"

"Of course, Lincoln's my little brother and I love him. I've cared for him since he was literally a baby," she claimed. "We Louds are a family, and this family supports itself."

"Oh really?!" the prosecutor interjected in a doubtful tone. "Tell me, Miss Lori. Were you supporting your brother when you agreed with the rest of your family that he should be kicked out of the house over a superstition?"

"Well… uh… no, but –" Lori answered sheepishly.

"Were you supporting him when you made him feel like a third wheel when you and your sister had that ridiculously petty argument?"

"Well… no."

"When he was labeled the prime suspect of the '_Princess Pony_' incident, did you give him any benefit of the doubt?" Lori couldn't answer that question because she was too busy chucking about it. She stopped when she saw the prosecutor's icy gaze. "I'll take _that_ as a 'no'. And when he _accidentally_ walked into your room, how did you react? Did you calmly get his attention and politely ask him to leave, a nice and loving sibling would? Oh, I remember. 'Human Pretzel!' Am I remembering your threat correctly?"

"Okay, okay!" Lori anxiously spoke up. "I admit, there were a few times where I probably overreacted a little. But –"

"A '_little_'?! Threatening an 11-year-old child with physical abuse and casting him out like a leper is a _little_ to you, Miss Lori?! I wonder if you treat all your other siblings the same way or similar."

"I assure you, I don't! Right guys?"

"Nah, little bit," Luna admitted.

"Yeah, have to agree with Lunes," Lynn agreed.

"You are kinda bossy," Leni confessed.

"Pretty hard to dispute," Lisa said.

"No ones' perfect," Lincoln commented.

"Guys, literally not helping!" the 17-year-old said with irritation before nervously turning her attention back to the court. "I really do love all my siblings. I just want them to treat me with the respect I deserve."

"I think we all can agree that you do deserve '_something_' for the things you've done, Miss Lori. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll get _everything_ that's coming to you soon," the prosecutor retorted in an ominous tone. "The prosecution has no further questions."

"But I –" the eldest Loud sibling tried to plead.

"Next defendant," the judge demanded and Lori was dismissed.

"The defense would like to call Lisa Loud to the stand," the defense attorney announced. The tiny 4-year-old prodigy walked up to the stand and took a seat. "Miss Lisa, you look like a very smart girl for your age."

"I have studied the fields of chemistry, biology, physiology, psychology, and scatology," the brainy toddler boasted in her usual tone.

"Scatology?" the confused defense attorney asked.

"The study of feces."

"Sorry I asked. Sounds like you're quite the little scientist, aren't you Lisa?"

"Correct," Lisa confirmed. "Science is my life."

"Is that so?!" the prosecutor interjected. "Then tell us, if you are such a girl of science, why would indulge in such superstitious nonsense?"

"I suppose it's time to come clean," Lisa calmly said. "The truth is I never believed Lincoln was bad luck unlike the rest of my family."

"What?!" Lynn and Lincoln exclaimed at the same time.

"Your actions during that whole incident say otherwise," the prosecutor argued doubtfully.

"It was all part of the experiment," Lisa confessed.

"What experiment?" the confused prosecutor asked. Everyone else looked just as confused as him.

"You see, it all started when Lincoln tried to convince my eldest sister and I of his superstitious curse," the prodigy explained. "I, being a woman of science, didn't buy it for a second. But when Lincoln _obviously_ pretended to '_accidentally_' destroy Lori's golf clubs, I was surprised and amazed at how quickly she changed from rational to irrational thinking. With my curiosity peaked, I decided to conduct my experiment by pretending to go along with the superstition. During that time, I observed the behavior of everyone as they succumbed to this inane belief. I wanted to see how long they would cling to this belief, how far they would take it, and what would cause them to finally realize how ridiculous they were being. Either way, I have to say it was a very fascinating experience for me."

"Fascinating, eh?" the prosecutor said. "You know what _I_ find fascinating? From what I've learned about you, Miss Lisa, is that you have quite the reputation of performing harmful experiments on people, including your own family, without their consent."

"Human experimentation is a necessary step in the field of science," Lisa nervously tried to justify. The confident brainy toddler wasn't really scared until the prosecutor made that statement. She thought that by explaining her side of the incident the court would understand and let her off easy. However, she was now realizing she had made a '_slight_' miscalculation.

"Tell me," the prosecutor continued. "During your little '_experiment_', did you ever once think about how other people might react to this? Do you ever think of the consequences of this? Did you ever think of the harm it would cause? How long were you going to let go on before someone seriously got hurt? Did you ever once think about how all of this would affect your own brother, who has suffer greatly because of the actions of you and your family?!"

"I was going to give him a dollar," the 4-year-old sheepishly replied.

"That is all, thank you," the prosecutor dismissed her.

"Law: one, science: zero," the tiny scientist sadly said as she walked down from the stand in shame.

"The defense would like to call Lana Loud to the stand," the defense attorney announced. The eldest of the 6-year-old twins walked up to the stand. "Now tell us, Miss Lana. Would you please tell the court your point of view of the incident?"

"I object, your honor," the prosecutor declared. "The defendant is clearly too young to give any accurate or trustworthy testimony."

"She has every right as the others to give a testimony," the defense attorney argued. "Besides, I could say the same for the 11-year-old complainant and that Sweetwater girl."

"The victim of the crime has every right to testify, no matter the age!" the prosecutor argued back.

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded striking the bench with her gavel.

_**CRACK!**_

Everyone suddenly went silent as they looked to see that the judge's gavel had fallen on a walnut and cracked it open.

"Thanks," Lana said taking the nut and stuffing it in her mouth. She was holding a bag of nuts in her left hand. "Care to crack open another one?" she asked holding up another nut.

The judge and the prosecutor looked very unamused. The judge motioned to the bailiff, who walked over to the stand and held out his hand to the girl. Nervously, Lana relinquished her bag of nuts to the gruff bailiff. "All of it," he demanded. Lana then started handing over other snacks she had stored in her clothes, including a moldy sandwich, much to the bailiff's disgust.

"Don't knock it till you try it," the tomboy said. The disgusted bailiff walked away with the snacks.

"Now Miss Lana, will you please answer the question?" the defense attorney asked.

"Well, I really wanted my brother to come and watch my alligator-wrestling match," she explained. "But when he said he was bad luck, I thought it would be best to cut my losses."

"Your parents let you, a 6-year-old, wrestle dangerous alligators?" the prosecutor asked suspiciously.

"Yeah! It's actually pretty cool," Lana replied completely missing the point. "You see, you get them in a headlock and then –" However, everyone stopped listening when they noticed the girl's red cap make strange movements on its own, as if there was something _alive_ beneath it.

"Miss Lana, what is that?" the defense attorney interrupted.

"What is what?"

"What is moving beneath your hat?" the prosecutor asked suspiciously.

"Oh…" Lana nervously looked up at her cap. "Nothing. Just my hair standing up. I forgot to put that gel stuff on it today."

"But you ate the last of the hair gel yesterday," Leni pointed out.

"Bailiff!" the judge called and silently ordered him to take a look.

The bailiff took off the cap and to his horror saw a big gray rat sitting on top of the girl's blonde hair. "AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" he screamed when he saw the rodent. The bailiff's scream frightened the rat who instinctively leapt off Lana's head and started scurrying across the courtroom floor scaring everyone. Lincoln and the rest of his family sat where they were looking extremely embarrassed. As people were screaming and running around in a panic, the judge glared angrily down at the 6-year-old tomboy who smiled nervously back.

A moment later, the rat situation was taken care of and everyone was sitting back in their seats. Unfortunately, Lana was immediately dismissed after that and not allowed to finish her testimony.

"Sorry about that, your honor," the embarrassed defense attorney apologized. "I would like to call to the witness stand Lola Loud." The younger of the twins confidently walked up to the stand. "Can you tell us how you feel about your brother, Miss Lola?"

"Of course, good sir," the young pageant winner agreed in a sweet-sounding tone. "I love my big brother very much, he's the best butler in the world."

"Butler?" the confused defense attorney asked.

"Brother, I said brother," Lola replied. "He is the one who helps me prepare for pageants when Mom can't. I have him to thank for my stunning beauty."

"So you thank him by kicking him out of your home?" the prosecutor asked accusingly. "Even though he made all your pageant victories possible, you are still quick to believe he would be bad luck?"

Lola suddenly became nervous, she didn't know how to answer those questions. Then she got an idea. Quickly, she produced big watery puppy dog eyes and started sniffling a little. Perhaps she could use the adorableness of a 6-year-old to get herself out of this. "I didn't know what I was doing was bad. I'm sorry," she whimpered. "Will you please let me go? I promise I won't do it again."

"No," the prosecutor bluntly replied. He wasn't at all affected by the girl's behavior. In fact, he looked rather disgusted by it.

Hearing this response made Lola stop the crocodile tears. The expression on her face then turned to one of restrained annoyance. "I said I was 'sorry'," she said through gritted teeth. "Aren't you supposed to forgive me now?"

"Miss Lola, you can't possibly believe that you can get rid of all your problems just by –"

"ACCEPT THE APOLOGY!" the bratty pageant winner angrily demanded.

"Order in the court!" the judge demanded. "Miss Lola, I suggest you cooperate with the officials here or you and your family will be held in contempt of this court, more so than you already are."

"Fine!" Lola begrudgingly agreed. "You all want the truth? Lincoln, the guy you all think is the victim here, is actually one of the most stupid, most annoying, most selfish, and most pathetic people I have ever known." Lincoln didn't look too put down by what his sister just said. Some of those he could admit were true. "He causes more problems than he fixes. Trust me, I've tattled on him quite a lot. Like that time he clogged the toilet with that Princess Pony book." Lola stopped for a moment to burst into laughter. "What kind of pathetic dope reads that garbage?!"

"You're the salt of the earth, Lola," Lincoln said unamused.

"So your brother has committed quite a few misdemeanors," the prosecutor spoke. "However, I don't think you're in any position to brag after the felony you and the rest of your family committed." Lola growled in annoyance. "Now tell me, Miss Lola. Do really think you're some sort of angel for banishing your only brother from the warmth of his home, disregarding his feelings and belongings, and then subjecting him to imprisonment in an uncomfortable suit just to satisfy _your_ needs?"

The more she didn't get what she wanted, the bitterer she became. But this time, something snapped. "Alright, I admit," Lola very begrudgingly confessed. "I'm no angel. I've done some rather not-so-nice things to my brother. Some things that I regret and some things that I don't. I tattle on him when it suits me, I blackmail him into doing me favors, I make him live in fear of getting on my bad side, I make fun of his habits and interests, I sometimes steal from him, I'm probably one of the last people he should ever have for a sister, and… and…" The angry 6-year-old's rant came to a halt as she tried to think of what to say next. However, her anger turned to fear as she observed the suspicious and disapproving expressions of the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury. "… and… this isn't helping me," the nervous pageant winner realized. Then in a tiny moment of panic, she resorted to the last thing she could think of in hopes that it might help her answer the question she was asked in a way that might not make her look bad in front of everyone. She had used this in school whenever faced with a question she didn't know how to answer. "Um… pass?"

"I think we've heard enough here," the disappointed prosecutor suggested.

"Will the defense call up the next defendant?" the judge asked as Lola was dismissed and shamefully returned to her seat.

"The defense would like to the father, Lynn Loud Sr., to the stand," the defense attorney announced. He was nervous because so far none of the girls had been giving good testimonies. Hopefully, one of the adults in the family would know what to do. "Mr. Loud, you seem like a man who knows a lot about taking care of a family. Would you please tell the court how many of your children you care for and how much?"

"Oh, that's easy," the patriarch confidently answered. "I love all my children. They're the prides and joys of my life. I give each and every one of them an equal amount of fatherly love and attention."

"Fatherly love, eh?" the prosecutor doubtfully said. "Gives all his kids an equal amount of care and attention. BUT you _weren't_ giving _**one**_ of them the same amount of affection _this time_, were you?"

"Well, I…" Lynn Sr. tried to reply, but the prosecutor wasn't finished.

"Tell me, Mr. Loud," the prosecutor demanded looming over the patriarch like a hawk looming over a small rodent. "What do you call giving into childish superstition and stooping so low as to eject one of your own offspring from the warmth of your home into a cold and lonely world that they are clearly not ready to handle on their own yet?"

"Uh… a struggling father doing his best?" Lynn Sr. nervously replied.

"Preposterous! _I_ call that a lazy, cowardly, pathetic father doing his worst! Tell me, Mr. Loud. How could you possibly have thought that letting your daughters subjecting your only son to such horrid treatment was a good idea?"

"Well, I'm not always that the best judge-of-character," the man of the house admitted. "But I thought it all sounded reasonable enough."

"How long were you planning to let your only son suffer like this until you finally decided to do your job?"

The patriarch anxious tried to think of a way to answer the question. Then in a tiny moment of panic, he resorted to the last thing he could think of in hopes that it might help him answer the question he was asked in a way that might not make him look bad in front of everyone. He had used this in school whenever faced with a question he didn't know how to answer. "Um… pass?"

"The prosecution would like to ask the defense to call a _real_ adult to the stand next time," the disgusted prosecutor requested.

"This trial is getting worse by the minute," the defense attorney nervously said to himself as Lynn Sr. was dismissed. "The defense would like to call Rita Loud to the stand." The matriarch made her up to the witness stand ready for questioning. Hopefully, she would do better than her husband. "Mrs. Loud, you seem like a very caring and reasonable person, would you kindly explain to the court your relationship with your children?"

"Of course," the matriarch replied in a tone that sounded more confident than her husband. "I love all my daughters unconditionally, but I also love my son just as much. I'm even writing a story based on some of his adventures."

"Is that so?" the prosecutor accusingly asked. "What are you going to say when you write about _**this**_ event? The part where the poor boy was abandoned and cast out by his family, including his own _**mother**_?! It seems to me, Mrs. Loud, that you clearly don't love your son nearly enough as you claim given what you did and that you obviously favor your daughters more since you sided with them. Doesn't sound like a very good story if you ask me."

"Now hold on," Rita tried to explain. "It's not what you think. The truth is my husband and I don't really believe in those superstitions."

"WHAT?!" Lynn Jr. exclaimed in utter disbelief.

"We don't?" Lynn Sr. asked confused. Then he realized what was going on and adjusted his tone. "I mean yes, we don't."

"Taking care of eleven kids is hard," Rita continued. "My husband and I don't like to play favorites, so we just agree with what the majority of our kids say and hope that everything will work out."

"Well, how do you explain where you are now?" the prosecutor asked motioning to the rest of the courtroom.

"I don't understand how this all happened," Rita anxiously replied. "My husband and I were just trying to be good parents and raise our children to be good kids. It's not our fault."

"Hold on a moment!" Brenda interrupted. "I would like to point out that what she just said in absolutely false. When children misbehave, a significant amount of it _is_ the fault of the parents."

"She has a point," the prosecutor agreed. "With that in mind, Mrs. Loud, tell us what you could've done differently to ensure that you and your family wouldn't be here today."

"I… don't know," Rita admitted bowing her head in shame.

"Then we have nothing further to discuss here," the prosecutor announced and the matriarch was dismissed.

"Well that's just great," the defense attorney sarcastically said to himself. "The defense would now like to call Lucy Loud to the stand."

"I'm already here," the 8-year-old goth announced already sitting in the witness stand startling everyone.

"Good, let's get this over with then," the defense attorney said recovering from almost having a heart attack. "Miss Lucy, would you please explain to the court your relationship with Lincoln?"

"Lincoln is my older brother," Lucy answered. "He can be many things. He can be one of the most irritating, most foolish, and most selfish human beings I've ever known. But he can also be helpful, understanding, and reliable."

"So you look up to him?" the defense attorney asked.

"In a way. He helps me with my poems, which makes me believe he's the only person who understands me."

"So where was this precious sibling bond when he was banished to the backyard like an animal?" the prosecutor accusingly asked.

"I admit, as a fortune teller and a séance seer, I am a very superstitious person," the goth replied.

Unexpectedly, the prosecutor went quiet and thought for a moment. Then a menacing grin formed across his face as he got an idea. "Miss Lucy, would you tell us your side of the '_Princess Pony_' incident?" The prosecutor had noticed that whenever any of the other family members talked or laughed about that event, Lucy would instead sink into her chair as if she were nervous or ashamed of something.

"Uh oh!" Lincoln exclaimed. Only he and Lucy knew the truth about that event. But now that they were in court, she would have no choice but to come clean.

"I object, your honor," the defense attorney declared. "This question has nothing to do with the current case."

"Your honor, I believe that there may be something more to this particular story that may provide concrete evidence to this case," the prosecutor explained.

"Objection overruled," the judge declared. "Proceed."

"Miss Lucy, would you please answer the question?"

Underneath the long black bangs that covered her eyes, the 8-year-old was very nervous. Sensing this, her family tried to give her some encouragement.

"It's okay, Luce," Luna encouraged.

"Just be honest," Lori urged.

"Tell them Lincoln did it!" Lola ordered.

"We'll all still have a good laugh about it," Luan chuckled.

"Actually, he might've taken the blame on that one," the goth girl sadly said. This caught the rest of her family, with the exception of Lincoln, completely by surprise.

"What?" a confused Lori asked.

"That Princess Pony book didn't belong to Lincoln, it belonged to _**me**_," Lucy shamefully confessed.

"What?! No way!" Lynn denied. "I share a room with her and I've never seen her showing any interest in that girly stuff."

"May I have my poetry journal? I believe you have it as one of the exhibits," Lucy requested.

"Exhibit G!" the prosecutor snapped his fingers and order the bailiff to retrieve the evidence.

Sure enough, the bailiff returned with a little black book which he handed to the girl. Lucy skimmed through the pages till she found a certain page. Then she turned the book around and opened it wide enough for everyone to see what was inside. Covering two pages were bright colorful drawings of ponies, which caused the rest of her family to gasp in surprise and thus prove her confession true.

"Wait a minute, _**YOU**_ were the one who clogged the toilet with that book!" Lisa realized.

"Wait, so it _**WASN'T**_ Lincoln?!" Lola asked in complete disbelief. Lola sometimes enjoyed tattling on her siblings, especially Lincoln. But she only tattled on them for things she knew they were guilty of, she never lied about anything. The revelation that she tattled on her brother for something he was innocent of was completely alien to her and it was also a blow to her pride.

"So I grounded my own son and made him miss out on that convention for no reason?!" Lynn Sr. exclaimed in utter shame.

"But… how?!" Lynn Jr. asked utterly confused.

"Sometimes I need a break from the darkness," Lucy said.

"But why did Lincoln say _he_ did it?" Luan asked.

"Because you all said that whoever it belonged to would become the 'laughing stock of the house'."

"Oh… my… God!" Lori exclaimed in horrific realization as she remembered all the things she and the other sisters said that night. "Lincoln was covering for you!"

Both Lucy and Lincoln exchanged sad looks to one another feeling now that everyone knew their secret, the sacrifices they had made to keep it were all for nothing.

While everyone was taking this revelation very hard, the prosecutor, on the other hand, was grinning with great satisfaction that his instincts were correct. "Let this serve as proof for many elements of this case!" he proudly declared. "Proof that just because a majority of these kids agree on something doesn't mean they're correct, proof that the parents' tactic of siding with said majority is flawed, and proof that claims they have made about their brother have been wrong. As far as we're all concerned now, these superstitious claims about him are wrong too! I thank you for your honesty, Miss Lucy."

"_This proves NOTHING_!" Lynn defiantly thought as the 8-year-old goth stepped down from the stand and rejoined her family in shame.

"The last defendant to speak on behalf of herself and her family is Lynn Loud Jr.," the defense attorney miserably announced. This was a major blow for their side. Hopefully things wouldn't get any worse.

Lincoln watched as his athletic sister, the one who started this whole thing, walk up to the witness stand. She looked confident. A little _too_ confident, and this made the sickly boy very nervous. He knew that if she didn't keep a lid on her pride, things were about to get a whole lot worse.

"Miss Lynn –" the defense attorney began.

"Just call me LJ," she interrupted.

"Very well. LJ, is it true that you forced your brother to attend your game under the threat of violence, blamed everything on him after you lost, had him kicked out of the house, and then forced him to wear a squirrel suit 24 hours a day?"

"So what if I did?"

The defense attorney, the prosecutor, the CPS agents, the judge, and the jury all gasped when they heard this. The other members of the family showed at least some acknowledgement that what they did was wrong, but this girl believed she did absolutely nothing wrong.

"So you admit to causing your brother cruel and unnecessary abuse because you couldn't take losing one single game?" the prosecutor asked accusingly.

"Abuse?!" Lynn said. "You mean _self-defense_! Don't be fooled by that jinx's lies, you're only hearing his side of things. The real victim you all should be sympathizing with, and worshiping, is me. After his presence caused me the first loss in my entire sports career, I knew drastic measures had to be taken."

"You could've just accepted the loss, taken responsibility for it, and train harder so you'd be better prepared for the next game," the prosecutor suggested.

Hearing this, the 13-year-old athlete burst into laughter. "Do you even know _WHO_ you're talking to?! I'm Lynn Loud Jr.! The best thing to ever happen since the invention of the toilet! I don't need to train more, I'm already the greatest. It's my destiny! It's my brother who's the problem, not me! He's bad luck! A jinx! The Anti-ME! We knew the only way to stop his bad luck was to contain it in a suit of good luck. But then _those_ people had the nerve to come to our home and mess everything up. Now look where we are!" Lynn pointed accusingly at the CPS agents.

"It is our duty, and the duty of the agency we represent, to protect the human rights of all children under the age of 18!" Brenda spoke.

"What are '_you_' gonna do about it, Loud?!" Derek angrily asked.

"I'm surprised you still have the nerve to keep making that ridiculous superstitious claim," the prosecutor remarked. "We have gained more than enough evidence to prove Lincoln's side of the story is true."

"I'm surprised that such backwards-thinking people like you actually exist," Lynn retorted. "I have all the evidence I need to prove that _**I'm**_ right."

"And where is this '_evidence_'?" the prosecutor asked in a challenging tone.

"Right here!" Lynn answered placing her right hand on her stomach. "This feeling in my gut is all the proof I, or anyone else, should need to know the truth. When you have this feeling in your gut, _never_ ignore it. Even when you're hit with so many of these so-called '_facts_' that try to prove otherwise, don't listen to them! Keep listening to the evidence your gut tells you to believe, no matter how small, because _that_ is the truth."

For a whole minute, everyone stared at the young athlete as if she had tentacles coming out of every hole in her face.

"Wow! And I thought the not-so-bright one was delusional," Derek remarked.

"You expect us to just believe you because you have some '_feeling_' in your gut?!" the angry and puzzled prosecutor asked. "_**Who**_ do you _think_ you are?!"

"Doesn't anyone besides most of my family get it?" Lynn replied. "I'm the One! Chosen by the softball gods to lead Royal Woods into a new era of sports and glory!"

"Here we go," Lincoln miserably said to himself. This was going exactly where he was afraid it would go.

"The championship is coming up and none of you stand a chance of winning it without me," the arrogant athlete continued to boast. "And with the softball gods on my side, _no one_ will stop me from fulfilling my destiny!"

"These softball gods, who or what are they exactly?" the prosecutor rhetorically asked. "I'll tell you what they are, they're just ridiculous constructs made up by pathetic and deluded people like you. Allow me to break down the truth behind all superstitious beliefs. Good luck is a way for the prideful and pathetic to boost their already low self-esteem so they can feel they don't need to do what _actually_ needs to be done to ensure success. Bad luck is a way for them to shift the blame and not take any responsibility for their own faults and mistakes. I have news for you, brat. The people in this courthouse, in this room, do not judge things based on this superstitious phony baloney, we judge things based on concrete facts and evidence. And _that_, my dear LJ, is something not even your so-called '_softball gods_' will ever change."

For a moment, there was only silence. No one in the room made a sound. Lynn stared at her accuser with an unamused look on her face. Everyone's attention was focused on her, waiting to see how she'd react.

"You're just jealous of my awesome divine swagger," the 13-year-old middle schooler responded in an arrogant and mocking tone.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" the disgusted and irritated prosecutor exclaimed. "Prosecution has nothing further to say." With that, Lynn was dismissed. The young athlete rejoined her family confident that she had achieved a victory. The rest of the Louds, including Lincoln, believed she may have just doomed them all. Even the defense attorney couldn't believe she what she just did. "Your honor, now that the defendants have all been given a chance to speak on their own behalf, and with all the evidence and witness testimonies presented, I believe it is finally time to wrap this up. It is time to ask the jury to finally pass judgement upon these callous, undisciplined little monsters."

"Hold on!" Lynn Sr. objected. "You can't talk that way about my daughters, they're just kids!"

"This coming from a man who acts less than his age!"

"You leave my husband alone!" Rita stood up for her spouse.

"So you're willing to stand up for your daughters and your husband, but not your only son?!" Brenda asked accusingly. Soon enough, both sides engaged in a heated argument.

"Order in the court! Order in the court! Order in the court!" the judge repeatedly demanded. But the arguing continued for over a minute.

Only Lincoln and the defense attorney did not participate in this embarrassing quarrel, and sat with their faces in their hands.

"ORDER IN THE COURT!" the furious judged yelled and slammed the sound block so hard her gavel broke in two. Finally, the annoying arguing stopped.

"Your honor," the defense attorney sheepishly spoke. "The defense would like to call for a short recess."

"Actually, that sounds _pretty_ good right now," the stressed judge agreed. "Court is adjourned. I need to get a cup of coffee."

With that, everyone started leaving the room to take a much needed break. After many people, including his family, had left, Lincoln suddenly collapsed to his knees in another coughing fit. This time, the coughing sounded more severe.

"You okay, kid?" Derek asked. But the boy didn't answer and just kept coughing.

"He's burning up," Brenda said with concern as she felt the boy's forehead. "We need to call an ambulance."

"Get this boy to a hospital," the prosecutor ordered the bailiff. "We'll have to finish the trial without him."

* * *

Inside a waiting room, the defense attorney was really letting his clients know _exactly_ what he thought of the way they handled things.

"I can't believe you people!" he angrily chewed them out. "What were you thinking?! You all told me none of you did anything wrong. But apparently you _did_ commit the crime of child abuse."

"Oh, come on!" Lynn Jr. exclaimed. "How is forcing our brother out of our lives for being bad luck child abuse, or even a crime for that matter?"

"_Every_ word of that was child abuse!" the defense attorney said in near disbelief. "And it _is_ a crime!"

"Well, _anything_ sounds like a crime when you say it with _that_ attitude," Lynn replied.

"Listen, things obviously don't look good right now. But I have a plan. We're going to have to make a plea bargain."

"What's that?" Lana asked.

"A plea bargain is an arrangement between the prosecutor and the defendant where the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for the prosecutor to drop a few charges and recommend a more merciful sentence acceptable to the defense. It's the last option we have."

"Well, I guess that sounds okay," a confused Leni said in reluctant agreement.

"I'm literally all for it," Lori said.

"Me too," Lana added.

"I am 90 percent positive that is the best, but mostly _last_, course of action to take," Lisa said.

"Well, if that really is the only thing we can do, we'll do it," Lynn Sr. agreed.

"NO!" Lynn Jr. yelled in absolute disagreement. "Are you crazy?! That's practically giving up. Giving up is for losers, and _**I'm**_ no loser!"

"We have no other choice," the defense attorney argued.

"Yes, we do!" the young athlete disagreed and pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to the defense attorney. "Here, I've written up a speech to use after the break. Say this, and we'll be home free."

After reading what was on the paper, the defense attorney's face became one of complete disgust. "Are you crazy?! _This_ will _**never**_ work! We say something like _that_ and they'll surely chose the guilty verdict."

"Let me tell you something," Lynn said. "I'm so sick and tired of going places and no one recognizes and appreciates me. Instead of treating me like a celebrity, I get things like '_no roughhousing_', '_please be quiet_', '_that kind of behavior isn't allowed_', or '_Get Out_!' Well, not this time! I'm gonna remind everyone exactly who I am. The Great Lynn Loud Jr.! Chosen by the softball gods to lead Royal Woods into a new age of sports and glory! As the chosen one, everything I do, think, and say is absolute. Those fools should know that without me Royal Woods doesn't stand a chance of winning the championship. They wouldn't dare trade me for that bad luck spewing weak _Link_."

"I hate to break it to you, kid," the irritated defense attorney retorted. "But being a good athlete doesn't give you any kind of immunity." Hearing this made Lynn's blood boil.

"I'm not a _good_ athlete," the annoyed middle schooler responded. "I'm _the_ _**BEST**_ athlete! I'm more than just an athlete, I am a **demigoddess**!"

After a long silence, the defense attorney finally spoke. "That's it!" he said in utter frustration and started packing his things.

"What are you doing?" a concerned Rita asked.

"This whole trial is hopelessly lost so I'm leaving," the defense attorney answered. "I quit!"

The family gasped in shock and horror.

"You can't quit!" Lynn Jr. angrily said. "It's your job to prove we're innocent!"

"_That's_ the problem!" he furiously replied. "You're _**NOT**_ innocent! What is wrong with you people?! You act like you can just do whatever you feel like and expect it to work out with little to no consequences, like the entire world revolves around you. A few of my past clients were serial killers that were easier to defend than you."

Anxiety started to overtake the family. Without the defense attorney, they didn't know if they could succeed in getting out of this predicament with minimal severity. However, Lynn Jr.'s face got redder and redder the more her pride was hurt.

"But, how will we –" Luan tried to ask.

"Not my problem anymore," the defense attorney interrupted. He was now finished packing. "I'm done with this. I quit!"

"You can't quit. Because you're FIRED!" Lynn Jr. yelled after him. But he just ignored her, left the room, and was gone. The rest of the family turned to the athlete with very angry looks on their faces.

"Way to go, Lynn," an angry Lori said sarcastically.

"He was useless anyway," Lynn replied. "Besides, we don't need him. I'll say the speech myself. You already have the Chosen One on your side. Just stick with my plan and we'll prove to everyone that Stinkin is bad luck, that the suit is good luck, that I was right, and that I'm still the greatest athlete in all Royal Woods! We'll be home before dinner."

"I disagree," Lisa spoke. "I believe it would be the best and most logical approach to take the defense attorney's advice and propose the plea bargain."

"My speech it is, then!" Lynn announced.

"Did you not hear what I said?" an annoyed Lisa asked her older sister.

"Remember Lis? I don't listen to a single thing you say," the athlete bluntly reminded.

The prodigy gritted her teeth in frustration. Not only because of her sister's stubbornness, but because she chose _NOW_ of all times to feel insulted by it. "Family, I would highly advise against this. Blindly and continuously following Lynn's lead is what got us into this mess. It's time we started thinking logically for once."

"Remember guys, this family supports itself," Lynn said.

The rest of the family shifted their attention numerous times between Lisa and Lynn trying to decide who they should agree with.

* * *

After a half hour, the break was over and everyone returned to the courtroom, everyone except the defense attorney and Lincoln.

"Where's Linky?" a concerned Leni asked taking notice of her brother's absence.

"His health took a turn for the worse, so we called an ambulance and sent him to a hospital," Brenda informed the family.

Hearing this made the rest of the family feel nervous for their boy, even Lynn.

"_I hope he's okay_," the young athlete thought to herself for a moment before snapping herself out of it. "_Focus LJ! You've got bigger things to worry about. Like looking out for number 1. Besides, this is perfect. With that jinx out of the way, victory is assured_."

"What happened to your defense attorney?" Derek asked taking notice of his absence.

"Oh, we fired him," Lynn bluntly claimed. "He was no help at all."

"Sure you did," Derek skeptically replied.

"Is the prosecution ready to make its closing statement?" the judge asked. She now had a new gavel.

"It is, your honor," the prosecutor answered. The smile on his face was evident. This was the part he was waiting for. "Council, members of the jury, we all have things we believe in. I have things that I believe in and I'm sure some of you have things that you believe in too. But it is important to keep in mind that not everyone shares the same set of beliefs as others. Some people have followed certain beliefs that go against the law. And that's why we're here today. The Children's Protective Services themselves have caught the Loud family in the act of committing the crime of child abuse under the ludicrous excuse of superstition. They forced their 11-year-old son and brother to live outside in their backyard simply because they believe he was bad luck. Then they forced him to wear an uncomfortable and stolen mascot suit 24 hours a day which has had terrible consequences on the boy's health. Now young Mr. Lincoln admitted that he did in fact contribute to what happened to him by lying and agreeing with the accusations that were made toward him so he could have some alone time to himself. But the act of forsaking one's kin due to a superstition is no excuse in comparison to lying to get what one wants. Now we've all seen evidence, the boy's state, and his schedule so we know that he did have a solid excuse for wanting some time to himself and thus proving the truth of his story. Unlike his family, who have provided no solid evidence to their claims of him being bad luck. Instead, they have tried to use their respective personality quirks to try and appeal to your sympathy and admiration and thus have without a doubt failed to prove their innocence. Now think back to the witnesses. Some have claimed that they caught these people in the act of the crime they are accused of and others have given testimonies about things they've done in the past that support this accusation. I submit to you today that the information you have proves beyond a doubt that the Loud family is guilty of the crime they have been charged. You all have an important job today, because a group of childish self-absorbed delinquents believe for some reason that they are above the law and need to be reminded that they are not. Now some of you might have had some issues with these people in the past but you can't make your decision based on those personal feelings. You have to look at this charge individually and decide whether these people are guilty for it. So when you go into that room, think seriously about all the evidence you seen, the witnesses you've heard, and the testimonies given by the defendants. But I'm confident that by the end of the day, there's only one conclusion you can reach, and that is the Louds are guilty of child abuse. Thank you for your time and your patience."

"Is the defense ready to make its closing statement?" the judge asked.

"You bet ya'!" Lynn Jr. replied and stood up. The rest of her family watched nervously hoping that they had made the right decision while Lisa hung her head in despair believing they had not. "First off, I would like to ask what is that horrible smell? Oh wait, it's you!" She said pointing to the prosecutor and the CPS agents much to their annoyance. "Second, I would like to say that this entire trial has been boring, an insult to my character, and a huge waste of my time. I should be at home preparing for the championship instead of here. I'm Lynn Loud Jr., and all the great stories you've heard are true. Take a good look at this face because one day you're going to see it on bubblegum cards. I'm a true team player, even if the rest of my team aren't. I have been victimized by people who don't treat me with the respect I deserve." She glared at the prosecutor and the agents for a moment. "Now some of you may say that my family and I broke some law, but isn't a law that prevents one from fulfilling their destiny the real crime? The only reason Royal Woods has made it to the championship is because of my wicked skills, which I should be praised more for. Also, I would like to say that luck is a real thing. How else can anyone explain all the good and bad things that happen to them? And for those of you that still don't believe, you will. By the end of this day, you will all become true believers. In fact, when you walk out of that room and proclaim me 'not guilty', that will be proof itself. I assure you that there was no way I could've lost that one game on my own. My bad luck brother was responsible for it. He is most likely responsible for us being here too. And speaking of said brother, does anyone know what he does in his free time? He reads comics in his underwear! So are you seriously going to sympathize with someone as lame as that? Or you going to sympathize with someone as great as me? So you see? Luck is as real as the softball gods who have chosen me to lead you all into a new era of greatness. So if you try to bring me down, you will only incur their wrath. So I instruct you _not_ to make the wrong decision. Oh, and may I suggest one way everyone can apologize for this is to erect a statue in my honor after I win the championship. Thank you and remember to cheer me on at the big game." With that, the 13-year-old proudly took her seat.

"Alright then, jury do your duty," the judge ordered.

One by one, the members of the jury exited the room to decide on a verdict.

* * *

**Here's another activity: pretend you are a member of the jury. Think about everything in the case and decide on a verdict. Do you believe the Loud family is innocent or has their 'luck' finally run out and it's time to pay the piper? Also, for those of you voting guilty, are there suggestions for punishments? I already have a few things in mind but I'll listen and think them over.**


	7. Trial Part 3: The Verdict

**Here it is, the final part of the trial! For those of you who dislike the way Lynn was portrayed in recent chapters, that's the point. Since this is a NSL story, in the first few chapters of this story she's not meant to be a likeable character. This story takes place a couple weeks after the end of that infamous episode and during that time the family has blindly supported all of Lynn's actions and decisions which has made her character even worse than it was in that episode. Her ego has grown so big to the point where she refuses to believe she did anything wrong and accepts no other reality but her own.**

* * *

After a half hour, the jury finally returned to the courtroom. Everyone was very eager to hear what they had finally decided on.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," Judge Martha addressed. "Have you reached a verdict?"

"We have, your honor," a juror answered. Everyone leaned in closer to make sure they could hear correctly. The Loud family was the most eager. Lynn Jr. placed her right hand to her ear and listened with a smug and triumphant smile on her face. "We find the defendants… **guilty** of all charges."

"WHAT!?" the Louds exclaimed and gasped in shock. Lynn was in complete disbelief. How could her speech not have worked? How could her faith in the softball gods not have helped? How could she had lost if that jinx wasn't here?! While the Louds were in shock, the prosecutor was smiling triumphantly. The judge didn't look surprised in the slightest.

"I do not know _what_ possessed you all to think that _any_ of the actions you've done that led to this fate were good ideas," the judge said to the now guilty defendants. Her eyes were full of disbelief and disapproval. She had done many criminal trials, but this one was the most ridiculous by far. "But your ignorant, self-centered, and callous indifference and disregard for your own flesh and blood and everything that is good and decent for such an incredibly ludicrous excuse has rocked the very foundation upon which our society is built."

"Please, wait a minute!" Lynn Sr. pleaded. "Any chance the jury can rethink their verdict?"

"Our children may misbehave from time-to-time, but they not bad," Rita tried to reason with the court.

"Your daughter's speech says otherwise," one of the jurors pointed out.

"The championship is coming up and she's just been under a lot of pressure," the Loud patriarch tried to come up with an excuse.

"Please, I beg of you all," Rita pleaded. "Don't judge our kids too harshly. They're all truly sweet little angels. We know this because we raised all of them."

"Lynn and Rita Loud," the judge addressed the folks. "It is apparent to everyone here that you care a lot for your daughters and are prepared to stand up for them and try to convince us to see them in a more forgiving and understanding light. Which makes you the _worst_ ones here! Even worse than your deluded egomaniacal fifth born!" Hearing this made everyone gasp in surprise. "I may not be a detective, but I believe I've figured you both out. You take great pride in your parenting skills and your children, a little too much. You've become so proud of your daughters' accomplishments and characteristics that you completely ignore their most obvious negative traits and deeds. By denying what your daughters have done, you're also denying that you're parenting style is flawed. You let your only son shoulder the blame for their bad behaviors because you are too proud to see the truth and too scared to take any responsibility for your own mistakes that enable those behaviors. Parents should always shoulder some responsibility for the actions of their children, but you do whatever you can to avoid that. I don't know what could've possibly made you both develop such a ridiculous mindset, but it has convinced me that prison time is not the suitable punishment for you." Hearing this made the parents and their daughters sigh with relief. "Instead, I am assigning you both long shock therapy sessions at the Royal Woods Mental Institution." Hearing that made the family gasp in fear. Prison time was starting to sound very comfortable now. "I also hereby relieve you of custody of all your children." Hearing that dreadful sentence made the family gasp in absolute horror.

"No, please don't take our kids from us!" Rita desperately begged.

"They mean the world to us!" Lynn Sr. tearfully pleaded.

The girls also voiced their opposition to this sentence, but it was no use.

"My decision is final," the judge declared. "The next offender, Bud Grouse, is hereby put under house arrest."

"What?!" the elderly neighbor exclaimed in surprise. "But I didn't do anything!"

"That's exactly why you're being put under house arrest," the judge replied. "You knew what they were doing and chose not to report it. Which makes you just as guilty."

"Oh, dang it!"

"As for you, girls!" the judge addressed the nervous Loud sisters. "I can think of nothing more fitting than to have all of you sent to the Royal Woods Reformatory where you can contemplate the manners in which each of you have conducted yourselves! I know I will."

While most of the sisters hung their heads in shame, Lynn was in an extreme state of confusion and fury. She couldn't believe an outcome like this could possibly happen. She _refused_ to believe it.

"Where is he?!" the angry athlete demanded.

"I beg your pardon?" the confused judge responded.

"Where is Lincoln?!" Lynn repeated herself. "He's hiding somewhere in this room, isn't he? If he wasn't, then we would be out those doors by now. _You've_ hidden him in here because you knew that without his bad luck the jury would find us innocent!" she accused the prosecutor and the CPS agents.

"Excuse me young lady, but we came to that conclusion all on our own," one of the jurors denied. "And it wasn't difficult either."

"LIES!" Lynn declared with bloodshot eyes.

"What is your obsession with trying to convince everyone that your brother is bad luck?" Brenda asked. She was _really_ starting to get tired of how long this was going on.

"Because I KNOW he is!" the livid athlete replied.

"Is _that_ what you want us to believe?" the skeptical judge asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't _know_ Lincoln is bad luck, you _WANT_ him to be bad luck!" the judge theorized.

"Seriously!? Why would I ever want something like that?" Lynn denied.

"Because you need that validation. To prove to everyone, but more importantly to yourself, that you are the greatest athlete in Royal Woods. That you are a true winner. When you experienced your first loss you desperately needed something to blame, so you chose to make your own brother the scapegoat. You just couldn't accept the fact that your precious winning streak was broken."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lynn bitterly denied in a defiant tone. Then she turned angrily to the prosecution. "Why don't _you_ just tell us where you've hidden Stinkoln already?!"

"Your brother is at the Royal Woods Hospital far from here!" Brenda said.

"WHY would you all side with him over _ME_?!" Lynn yelled. She looked like a volcano that was about to burst any second. "_WHAT_ has _HE_ ever done to deserve this treatment from you people?! Treatment that should be given to _ME_!"

"IT'S NOT WHAT _HE_ HAS DONE! It's what _you_ have done!" the judge angrily responded. "_THIS_ is what happens when you take something _too far_ and don't realize it until it's _too LATE_!"

"You know what your problem is, kid?" one of the jurors asked rhetorically. "You're a sore loser! A rude, immature, apathetic, spoiled, delusional, self-absorbed sore loser!"

Then something unexpected happened. Something disastrous. Something that would send the Loud family falling until they hit rock bottom. After too many of her desires and expectations had been denied, something happened inside Lynn. Something had _**snapped**_! With all the rage and strength she could muster, the young athlete grabbed the wooden desk that stood in front of them and flipped it over until it was now upside down. Papers on the desk flew everywhere. She grabbed one of the legs and pulled until it broke clean off. Then she bit into the broken leg, her teeth dug into the hard wood before she threw it aside. With both hands, she grabbed her scalp and pulled out a few strands of her own hair. Her face was crimson, her eyes were bloodshot, her teeth gritted, and steam coming out of her nostrils with every huff.

"I _TRIED_ being fair and reasonable!" she yelled.

"If that's true, I'd hate to see her when she's _not_," Derek mockingly remarked.

"SHUT UP! We are a family, and how we treat each other is _**NO ONE'S BUSINESS**_!" the enraged athlete bellowed. "This isn't a courtroom, it's an Anti-_Me_ Convention!" Suddenly two bailiffs took hold of her arms and restrained her. "Let me go!" she demanded kicking and struggling to get free.

"Lynn, calm down!" Rita ordered her daughter.

"Stupid brat!" the prosecutor exclaimed. "Is your pride really worth more than the well-being of your family?!"

"You are so stubborn and impulsive!" Brenda said. "Didn't your family ever teach you to behave?"

"If there's _anything_ I learned from my family, it's that 'this family supports itself.' But _some_ family is worth supporting _**MORE**_ than _others_!" the unhinged middle schooler retorted. "_**That**_ is what my family taught me! Right guys?" She turned to her family expecting more support. However, instead of seeing expressions of pride and support on the faces of her loved ones, Lynn saw only expressions of embarrassment and disgust. "Come on, guys! Don't you turn on me too!"

"Lynn, what is wrong with you?!" a disgusted Rita said her daughter.

"You've literally been acting like a complete lunatic since we got here!" Lori angrily added.

"Why are you acting like this?" Leni asked.

The angry athlete stared at them as if _they_ were the ones acting crazy. "I don't know what any of you are talking about. Acting like _what_?! I've _ALWAYS_ been like this and you've never complained about it before!"

Hearing this, the family's expressions changed to ones of horror and shame as everything finally became clear. There was no way her parents could come up with an excuse for this. Her tantrum finally made them realize their terrible mistakes and see her for what she really was. Lynn Sr. and Rita for years had praised their daughters for all their accomplishments and blindly supported their ideas and actions with little to no question thus enabling and encouraging their negative behaviors, never giving thought to the consequences if they did it too much. The sisters' eyes were opened for the first time to the damage that could be caused by their entitled, biased, and thoughtless behavior. By instinct they all supported one another no matter what, even if it meant their only brother would be singled out and miserable. Maybe it was because they were all girls and he was the only boy. But now reality was finally hitting them like a speeding locomotive as they stared at the true catalyst of their decreasing luck, the monster they had created. They would not take LJ's side this time. The athlete's eyes that were once filled with pride and rage were now filled with hurt and betrayal.

"Miss Loud!" the judge said. The tone of her voice made it clear that she had had enough. "You have disrespected this courtroom for the last time! Your pride, stubbornness, and refusal to accept the reality of your situation has provided even more proof of your guilt. I was planning on sending you to the Royal Woods Reformatory along with your sisters, but I now see that would not be a good idea after witnessing such behavior. You need a more severe penalty. Therefore, I am sending you to the Royal Woods Juvenile Detention Center!" The family gasped in shock upon hearing this. They'd heard about life was like in Juvie, and it wasn't pretty. "Take her away before she causes anymore disruptions." The judge ordered the bailiffs.

"You won't get away with this!" Lynn defiantly yelled as she was dragged away by the two bailiffs. "My loyal fans will demand my release. And if that doesn't happen, when the Squirrels lose the championship, _EVERYONE_ will see that I was right! The Wrath of the Softball Gods will fall upon you all! There will be chaos in the streets! The Royal Woods Squirrels are nothing without me. Royal Woods itself is nothing without _me_! God Bless America! God Bless _**MEEEEEEE**_!" she screamed just before the courtroom doors slammed shut and she was gone.

The entire courtroom was suddenly rendered completely silent. This was the longest the place had been without a sound. For some it was relieving, but for others it was shocking and disturbing.

"This court is adjourned," the judge announced striking the sound block with her gavel one last time.

People started rising from their seats and leaving the room. Aunt Ruth glared at her niece's family with disgust. She wasn't a pleasant person, but this was rotten even for her. Albert hung his head in shame, he couldn't believe that his own daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters would do something so inexcusable. He left carrying his infant granddaughter with him. Poor Lily didn't understand what was going on, but she had a feeling that things weren't right. Clyde McBride's heart was broken. The poor boy had always admired his best friend's sisters, especially Lori. But this time he could not defend them, not even the woman he felt great affection for. Bobby Santiago was fairing no better. He wished that he had been wiser and not given in to his now ex-girlfriend's desires so easily. His regrets were only beginning because he knew his sister would soon give him a piece of her mind on the part he played in this. The prosecutor, on the other hand, beamed a proud and victorious smile. Once again, justice had been served. The two CPS agents immediately headed out the door not giving the guilty defendants a single glance. They had to get to the hospital to check on the health of the boy who had been the unfortunate victim of this disgraceful affair. The once carefree Loud family now looked broken and defeated. No miracle or amount of luck would save them from their sad fates.

"I told you guys we should've gone with the plea bargain," a disheartened Lisa said.

"Rita," Lynn Sr. sadly said to his wife. "I think we've made a terrible mistake."

* * *

At the Royal Woods Hospital in Downtown, a sickly white-haired 11-year-old woke up to find himself lying on a bed in a hospital room. He noticed four people in the room watching over him with concerned eyes. He recognized that two of them were the CPS agents and the other two were a doctor and a nurse.

"Thank goodness, he's awake," Derek said with relief.

"It's a good thing you got him here when you did," the doctor replied. "Any later, and I fear he might not have woken up."

"Where am I?" an anxious Lincoln asked. "Where is my family?"

Both CPS agents had nervous looks on their faces. They knew the boy wasn't going to take the news well.

"Sorry kid," Derek told him in a sympathetic tone. "But your family… has been found guilty."

"What?!" the white-haired adolescent exclaimed in surprise and horror.

"Your parents have been sent to the Royal Woods Mental Institution, most of your sisters have been sent to the Reformatory, and the sister who caused all of this has been sent to the Juvenile Detention Center," Brenda informed him trying to be as sensitive as possible.

Hearing this, the poor boy hung his head in despair. A part of him knew this would be the outcome, but the severity of his family's punishments made him feel great misery and guilt. Despite everything they put him through, Lincoln never wanted his family to suffer. He just wanted them to realize the error of their ways and for everything to go back to the way they were. But now it was too late, and a part of him felt he had some blame for this. All he wanted was a little alone time to himself, and in the end it wasn't worth it. Now it seemed that the huge Loud family was being torn apart… forever.

"Is there any chance we can fix that?" the boy asked lifting his head up. "I'm sure they understand what they've done wrong and have learned their lesson."

"I'm afraid not," Derek replied.

"Your parents have also lost custody of all their children," Brenda added. Hearing this made the poor boy lower his head again.

"What about my baby sister, Lily?" Lincoln asked with a mixture of sadness and concern. Out of everyone in his family, she was the most innocent and didn't deserve anything bad to happen to her.

"She's with your grandfather," Brenda informed. That was a relief to hear.

"So what's going to happen to me now?" the white-haired youngster asked nervously.

"That's what we're going to figure out," Brenda answered.

"We'll be back," Derek said as he and his partner left the room.

Lincoln knew that with his family out of the picture he would most likely have to put in a foster home. That thought made him very nervous and uncomfortable.

In the waiting room, the two CPS agents had spent twenty minutes trying to figure out what to do with the now family-less boy.

"What are we going to do?" Brenda asked her partner. "Due to the Loud family's reputation for causing trouble, not a lot of people are willing to take in the boy."

"I think I know some people who might," Derek said optimistically. "Take a look at this." He showed her something on his phone.

"You think these people can be trusted?"

"Of course, I've dealt with these people in the past," Derek assured her. "They're always happy to take in forsaken children. The kid will love it there, they're very caring and responsible."

Brenda thought for a moment. Then a smile of trust formed on her face. She started dialing a number on her phone. After a moment of ringing, the call was finally answered. "Hello, is this the Orphanage of St. Linda?"

"_This is_," a voice from the phone confirmed.

"This is Brenda of the Children's Protective Services. There is an issue that we think you might be well suited to handle."

A half-hour later, two people arrived at the hospital and entered the waiting room. One of them was a nun with black hair who looked to be in her mid-thirties. The other was a middle-aged priest and the head of the orphanage who had gray hair and a beard.

"Greetings," the nun approached and warmly greeted the CPS agents. "I am Sister Elizabeth and this is Father George. We are from the Orphanage of St. Linda."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Brenda politely replied and shook their hands.

"The pleasure is all ours," Father George said with a friendly smile.

"It is always a blessing from God to give a nice warm home to all children in need," Sister Elizabeth said in a cheerful tone. "So where is the boy?"

Alone in the room, Lincoln sat in the hospital bed waiting for any news. It had been almost an hour and he was starting to feel nervous. He also couldn't stop thinking of his family and the predicaments they were in. He worried for their well-being while still feeling a great deal of guilt.

"I wonder what my sisters are doing now," he asked himself in a concerned tone. Then he looked to the readers with a bitter and unsurprised expression. "Most likely, at least Lori, Lola, and Lynn are probably blaming me for all of this." The expression on his face then changed to one of sadness as he hung his head. "But they wouldn't be completely wrong either." Finally, Brenda and Derek returned with two new faces.

"Is this the boy?" Father George asked.

"Yes it is," Derek confirmed.

"Oh my!" Sister Elizabeth exclaimed and rushed toward the white-haired adolescent. "You poor child!" she said in a concerned motherly tone as she inspected him. "You must've been through so much."

"Hi, my name is Lincoln Loud," the 11-year-old awkwardly but politely greeted the nun.

"I am Sister Elizabeth and this is Father George," the nun introduced herself and her superior.

"I've heard a lot of stories about children being forsaken by their families," Father George told Brenda. "But what in God's name drives people to do what his family did?!"

"Now, now Father, we shouldn't judge his family too harshly," Sister Elizabeth scolded. "There are people who have done much worse."

"You're right. Please forgive me, Lincoln," the priest apologized.

"What brings you here?" the boy asked.

"We've come to welcome you into our family and give you a new home, Lincoln," Sister Elizabeth answered in a warm motherly tone.

"I appreciate your kind gesture, but I already have a family and a home," the 11-year-old politely tried to decline. "Can I please just go home with my family?"

Brenda and Derek found it amazing that despite what his family put him through, this kid still had feelings and concerns for them.

"Look son," Brenda said in a sympathetic and understanding tone. "I find it sweet that you still care for your family. But the law is the law, and if someone breaks it they have to suffer the consequences. I'm sorry, but your family can't be with you anymore."

With a look of despair on his face, Lincoln sadly lowered his head as the last feelings of hope left his heart. He felt like one of his worst nightmares was coming true and there was nothing he could do about it. Now he didn't know what to do with his life. Despite all the hardships, the life he spent with his big family was the only thing he knew. Aside from his friends, his family were the only people he felt comfortable to be around. And now they were gone, possibly _forever_. Out of all the bad things that had happened to him in his life, Lincoln felt this was the worst of them all.

"There, there little one," Sister Elizabeth said in a warm comforting voice as she pulled the poor boy into a hug and gently stroked his hair. "It'll be okay. The Lord hasn't forsaken you. If he did, we wouldn't be here."

"We of St. Linda's have dedicated out lives to providing a place for lonely children to call home," Father George explained. "I know it might seem overwhelming to begin living with people you just met, but you'll be surrounded by other children who understand you as well as adults whose jobs are to make sure you are all happy and comfortable."

"While some people find children difficult to take care of, but it is they who enrich the lives of us at the Orphanage of St. Linda," Sister Elizabeth said. Then she noticed that the boy was still sad and unconvinced. "Lincoln, I assure you in the name of the Lord you can trust us. Are you familiar with God and his unconditional love?"

"Well, I've heard his name before," Lincoln answered. "But to be honest, I never really thought to believe in him. I thought maybe he didn't really exist or if he just gave up on me."

"Oh no, my child," the nun gently disagreed. "God does not give up on any of his children. He is always there for us when we are happy and to help us when we are sad. If we are willing to ask and listen. If you come live with us, we will teach you how to communicate with him."

"And unlike your sister's '_softball_' gods, I can assure you he's real," Father George added.

"I… I don't know if I can ask him," a still sad and unconvinced Lincoln replied. "While my family has done some things that weren't right, I haven't been an angel myself either."

"God is willing to forgive anyone if they truly desire it deep within their hearts," Father George assured.

"Lincoln, no one is going to make you come and stay at St. Linda's," Sister Elizabeth told him. "The choice is yours. But if you believe God hasn't given up on you, then I'm sure he'll help you find what you need. That is, if you are willing to listen."

For a moment, there was silence. Lincoln stared at the four adults as they stared back patiently waiting for an answer. The white-haired boy thought hard about what these people had just told him. They seemed nice and genuinely want to help him. The white-haired boy had never been very religious, but perhaps this really was God offering him a chance at salvation. While it was now too late for his family, he could at least make his life better. After thinking for a while, the ill-looking preteen looked up at the four adults with a new look of hope on his face.

"I've made my decision," he announced much to the delight of his audience. "Father George, Sister Elizabeth, I would be honored if you'd –" but before he could finish, he suddenly erupted into a coughing fit. "Sorry, what I meant was I'd like to come live at St. Linda's."

"Wonderful!" the nun happily exclaimed and hugged the sick boy again. "I know you'll love it there."

Brenda and Derek watched with satisfied smiles as the two charity workers accepted the youngster with open arms. While they weren't as religious as these people, they did seem to share a common goal: to ensure the well-being of children.

"You think this was the right idea?" Brenda asked her partner.

"Yes," Derek replied confidently. "I'm sure this kid will be in good hands."

* * *

**There you have it, the last part of the trial. What will happen to the Louds now? What will it take to make Lynn see the error of her ways? And is Lincoln truly in good hands? One thing's for sure, this is just the beginning of the Loud family's karmic bad luck.**

**And just to make a few things clear. For those of you who have some religious affiliation, I hope that you don't take anything too seriously. It's just a non-profit story written for fun.**


	8. Comfort

**Here it is! Had to put A LOT of thought into this chapter.**

* * *

Father George, Sister Elizabeth, and Lincoln eventually arrived at the Orphanage of St. Linda. The orphanage was a big five-story rectangular building with fifteen windows across each story. Lincoln was shocked to see that this place was ten-times bigger than his family's house.

"Don't be afraid, child," Sister Elizabeth comforted the nervous boy. "This is home to many children. You won't be alone here."

"Sounds a lot like my old home," Lincoln remarked.

They all walked up the steps and through the huge front doors. Inside was a big spiral staircase and long hallways filled with doors and windows on both sides of it. Lincoln gazed around in amazement at the big spacious interior, and this was only _part_ of the _first_ floor.

"Wow!" the sick surprised boy softly exclaimed.

"Welcome to your new home, my boy," Father George said.

"I know it will take some time for you to adjust, but I hope that in a few days you will be able to see yourself as a member of our family," Sister Elizabeth said heartfully.

"Come now, let's have you meet the other kids who live here," the Father suggested.

They led Lincoln to a room where another nun was teaching a class of at least fourteen kids all wearing black uniforms, most of them looked to be around his age.

"Greetings Father and Sister Elizabeth," the nun greeted her superiors. "We were just going to talk about…" Then she interrupted herself when she noticed the sick-looking white-haired child standing beside them. "Oh dear lord! Is this a new addition to our family?"

"Indeed he is," Sister Elizabeth confirmed.

"His name is Lincoln," the Father introduced the boy.

"Welcome to your new home and family, Lincoln," the nun welcomed the white-haired adolescent.

"Hi Lincoln!" one of the other kids said.

"Nice to meet you," another kid said.

"Welcome to St. Linda's," a third kid greeted.

Soon all the kids in the room started giving Lincoln friendly greetings.

"Nice to meet all of –" but before Lincoln could finish, he suffered a short but very harsh sounding coughing fit.

"Are you alright?" the nun teaching the class asked with concern.

"He's very ill," Sister Elizabeth informed.

"Oh dear. Where did you find him?" the concerned nun asked.

"That's a… _sensitive_ question," the Father replied noticing the boy looked very sad at hearing that question. "We'll talk about it later. Right now, we need to make Lincoln feel at home."

"I already told Caroline to meet us and give him the tour," Sister Elizabeth informed introducing a slender fifteen year old girl with red hair and a ponytail.

"You called for me, Father?" Caroline asked.

"Caroline, this is Lincoln, the boy we told you about," Father George introduced the boy.

"Nice to meet you, Lincoln," the teenager greeted him.

"Nice to meet you too," Lincoln replied.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good," Caroline asked noticing the boy's unhealthy appearance.

"He's been really sick," Sister Elizabeth informed her. "But we'll take good care of him and nurse him back to health in no time. For now, we would like you to give him the grand tour of our home."

"You can count on me, Sister," Caroline happily replied.

"Can I help show him around too?" a girl from the class asked.

"I want to go along too," a boy said.

"Now children," Father George said in a gentle authoritative tone. "You're in the middle of class right now."

"Oh come on, Father," Sister Elizabeth pleaded. "This child has been through so much. Why don't we let him have this opportunity to start forming relationships with the other children?"

The Father looked over to the nun conducting the class. She gave him a smile and a shrug which told him that she didn't mind. After a brief exhale, he finally gave in.

"Alright," the Father agreed much to the delight of the kids. "But remember to study extra hard after this."

The two excited kids got up from their seats and quickly joined Caroline in giving the tour to the new boy they were eager to eventually call their brother.

"This way please," Caroline said leading the group down the hall. Sister Elizabeth and Father George watched as the group left.

"I'm Jim," the boy introduced himself.

"And I'm Katelyn," the girl introduced herself. "You are going to love it here."

"It always makes me so happy to have more of these little lost youngsters come to our wonderful home," the Sister said with a smile. The Father on the other hand didn't look like he shared her sentiment. He had a look of sadness and guilt on his face.

As the group of youngsters walked down a hall, Lincoln took the opportunity to tell them the revolting story of how he got here.

"So they blamed you for everything, ruined your life, and didn't even care?!" Katelyn asked very disturbed.

"Mm-hmm," Lincoln sadly responded.

"And the rest of your family just went along with this as if it was something completely acceptable and normal?" an appalled Jim asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, it's a good thing the police found out when they did," a very livid Caroline said. "From what you've told us, it sounds like there's something seriously wrong with those people."

"I guess so."

"Lincoln, what's the matter?" Katelyn asked noticing the white-haired boy's sorrowful expression.

"It's just, I know what they did was wrong," the sad sick boy explained. "But I just can't help but feel a great portion of this is my fault. If I hadn't lied about being bad luck, they never would've taken things too far."

"But they _did_ take things too far," Caroline said undoubtedly. "Lincoln, let me make a few things clear. Wanting some time to yourself is understandable, lying to get what you want is not okay, but blaming someone else for your mistakes, turning them into a pariah, and then kicking them completely out of your life over a superstition is absolutely inexcusable."

"Anyone who thinks what **_you_** did is worse than what **_your family_** did needs to get their head examined," Jim added.

"Lincoln, you've done so much for those people and have received very little in return," Caroline continued. "And while I like how you try to see the good inside them, the Lord would be proud, I'm sorry to say that you're overlooking an undeniable fact. Your parents' and your sisters' behavior was just plain selfish."

"It's not fair that you have to attend all of their events every time when they hardly attend yours," Katelyn added.

"To be fair, there's hardly any events I have that are worth supporting," Lincoln said.

"Is that coming from you or your sisters?" Caroline asked suspiciously.

This question made Lincoln think for a moment. Then he found himself hit with some sort of realization. Maybe he developed this mindset after years of trying to hang out with his sisters doing things he wanted to do but they hardly showed any interest. Whenever he tried to do something spectacular they would not care believing it was doomed to failure. Sure some of the things he tried to do did end in failure, but maybe if he had more support from his family some of them might have been successful and noteworthy. He followed their rules and wishes as obediently as he could and hoped that everything would turn out for the better in the end. There were multiple times where Lincoln thought he wasn't treated fairly by his family, but he rarely stood up for himself afraid that he might get into trouble or he might be wrong and thinking selfishly. But now, he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Are you alright, Lincoln?" Katelyn asked.

"Did I say anything that offended you?" a concerned Caroline asked.

"No," the white-haired boy warmly assured them. "It's just… (cough)… now that I think about it, it actually makes me feel a lot better. All this time I've felt I had to accept the bulk of responsibility for any problems that befell my family. I always felt that I was the one who wasn't doing my part for my family. But now I think that wasn't always the case. Maybe my family wasn't doing _their_ part for me."

"That's great," Caroline said with a proud smile. Then she and the other kids noticed some tears forming in his eyes.

"Lincoln, what's the matter?" Katelyn asked.

"Sorry about that," Lincoln apologized and wiped the tears away. "I'm just relieved that for once in my life I don't have to take full responsibility for the trouble that has befallen my family. I can finally say with a clear conscience that they brought this upon themselves."

"Now you're getting it," Jim congratulated.

"I still feel pity for them, something I can't help, and I wish there was something I could do to help them. But I can't, not anymore. Now it's too late. They're on their own now. I've done all I can do. The rest is up to them." Lincoln's new friends started rubbing his shoulders and patting him on the back in congratulations for his epiphany.

"And this will be your room where you will sleep," Caroline said opening a door to reveal a nice clean bedroom.

The white-haired boy stared in amazement at his new room. Not because he finally had a bedroom again, but because it was twice the size of the one he had at his old home.

"If there is a God, then he really _does_ love me," Lincoln remarked to the readers. Then he started coughing again.

"Here lie down," Caroline said as she and the other kids lead Lincoln to his new bed. "Stay here for a moment while I deliver a message to the nurse." With that, the kind teen left the room.

"Don't worry, Lincoln," Katelyn assured him. "The people here are very good about keeping the kids here happy and healthy."

"They'll make you feel better in no time," Jim said. "They're _way_ better than those people you used to live with."

"Right," Lincoln replied with a happy-looking face but uneasy-sounding tone. The sickly boy stared up at the ceiling of his new bedroom. Many stressful thoughts started flooding his mind. How was Clyde doing? How was Ronnie Anne doing? How was his family doing? Were they okay? Were they feeling any regret for their actions? Or were some of them still blaming him for the recent events that had transpired? Most likely Lynn was doing the last thing. Whatever it was, Lincoln wished he could've had at least one last moment to talk with them. He lay in his new bed, in his new room, accompanied by new friends, waiting for another friend to return with the orphanage nurse.

* * *

**I originally had more things to write for this chapter, but it was getting long and I still had a lot of thinking to do before I could finish it. So I decided to split it into two separate chapters. Here's the first part, expect the next part soon.**


	9. Truth and Reality

**One Week Later.**

Over time, Lincoln had grown more and more comfortable with his new lifestyle. His health had also improved spectacularly, he had made so many new friends at the orphanage, and he had developed new self-confidence. He got out of his pajamas and put on his uniform. Now that he was a resident at St. Linda's he had to wear a uniform just like the rest of the children there. It had long sleeves and was black, not exactly his style, but he did not complain. As he walked down the hallways and stairs, he received warm greetings from other kids he passed by. He made his way to the cafeteria for breakfast. After receiving his meal, he sat down at a table with some of his new friends and said a prayer thanking the Lord for the food. Since he was living at a religious orphanage, he had to make a habit of saying prayers after receiving meals and before going to bed.

"How are you feeling today, Linc?" Jim asked.

"I'm feeling a whole lot better," the recovering white-haired boy replied. "These people really are dedicated to the health of the children in their care."

"And how are our little angels doing today?" Sister Elizabeth came to their table and asked in a cheery tone.

"We're doing well, Sister Elizabeth," the happy group of kids said in unison. A lot of the nuns at the orphanage were really kind, but Sister Elizabeth was by far the best. She was like a very beautiful and loving mother/sister figure to all the kids. She also had a lot of authority and influence over the other nuns being a kind of second-in-command to Father George.

"And how are _you_ doing this morning, Lincoln?" the head nun asked Lincoln. Over time, Lincoln seemed to have become a favorite of hers. She was always doting on him and making sure he was feeling well.

"I'm doing great, Sister," he replied with a thumbs up. "I feel I'm well enough to attend the Royal Woods Softball Championship today."

"I still can't believe you want to go to that game," a confused Katelyn said.

"Yeah, I mean you don't even like baseball," said one of the new friends named Mike. He was boy with light skin and short brown hair. He was one year older than Lincoln. "I thought something like that might bring back bad memories."

"Well, it's just that Lynn's teammates will be there," Lincoln explained. "In the past, she treated them pretty badly too. At the trial, she said some very hurtful things to her best friend, Margo. I just want to show them some support. I know it wasn't my fault Lynn bossed them around, but someone has to apologize to them on her behalf."

"You're a good kid, Lincoln," Caroline gave him a heartfelt compliment. "A _very_ good kid."

"Well Lincoln, if it'll make you happy, the Father and I will allow it," the Sister said. "Hope you all enjoy yourselves."

"We'd better go to our rooms and get ready before we leave," Caroline suggested.

With that, Lincoln and the other kids finished their breakfasts and started leaving the cafeteria. While making his way back to his room, Lincoln couldn't help but wonder how Lynn was doing. Today was the championship she had been training for the past few weeks but now she couldn't compete in it. He almost felt a little sorry for her, sports was her life.

"I wonder what Lynn's doing right now," the white-haired adolescent thought to himself.

* * *

"_Life can be so unfair_!" Narrator Lynn told the readers. "_The greatest athlete in Royal Woods had been unjustly imprisoned and betrayed by everyone around her, including her friends and family. Not even her once loyal fans stood up for her. Now she has been left to rot in this horrible prison called juvie. All thanks to her jinx of a brother! But at least she still had the softball gods, they would never abandon her_."

It had been two weeks since the trial, and Lynn was not adjusting well to her new environment at the Royal Woods Juvenile Detention Center. Despite everything that had happened, she still believed she was in the right and refused to fully accept the predicament she was in. This caused her to develop a reputation of being a very uncooperative and disrespectful troublemaker amongst the staff and inmates of the detention center.

One day, she was walking down a hallway of cells to the rec room. She was wearing an orange prison-style uniform with a number on it. Albert, her grandfather, came to visit her about two days after the trial. That memory weighed heavily on her mind as she made her way down the hall.

**Flashback**

Lynn was brought to the phone booths because her grandfather had come and wanted to speak with her. She sat in the chair and picked up the provided phone to speak with Albert who was sitting on the other side of the glass holding his phone.

"I'm so happy to see you, Pop-Pop," the young athlete said with a smile of relief. However, she failed to notice the unhappy and disappointed look on his face. "You gotta get me out of here. I have so many things to do in such a short amount of time: prepare for the championship, kick all those traitors off my team, sue the CPS after I win…"

"I'm afraid you won't be doing any of that," Albert said in a stern tone.

"I will when you get me out of here," a confused Lynn replied.

"Who said I was here to get you out?"

"Good one, Pop-Pop, but leave the comedy to Luan."

"I'm serious!" Albert said raising his voice. "What were you thinking?! Treating your own little brother like that?"

"He was bad luck!" the stubborn middle schooler argued. "Something had to be done."

"You ruined his life."

"He brought it upon himself!"

"No Lynn!" the angry elder disagreed. "**_You_** were the one who started all this when you forced Lincoln to attend your ball game, which you lost and blamed him for. Then you and the rest of the family decided it was a good idea to kick him out like an animal! While I agree that lying to get what he wanted wasn't the best idea, it **_pales_** in comparison to what you and the rest of the family did to **_him_**."

"Are you saying you believe that load of hogwash over what I said?" Lynn asked in a demanding tone.

"Yes. I do."

This answer made Lynn's face turn red. "I should've expected this. Lincoln was _always_ your favorite."

"Now Lynn, that's not tr–"

"But the worst part about it was I never understood _why_! He doesn't drive a car, he doesn't tell funny jokes like Luan, and that's saying a lot, he can't fix things, _and_ he sucks at so many sports. He's absolutely worthless!" Her grandfather stared at her in utter shock. How could she say something like that about her own brother?! "We finally found a good use for him, and then _they_ took it away and ruined my life!"

"**_You_** did that to yourself!" Albert corrected her. "Do you even hear _half_ the things you say?! What happened to you? You used to be very close to your brother when you were little. You played with him and protected him like any normal sister would. Now you're treating him as if he was subhuman. And for what?! Just **_one_** stupid loss!"

The arrogant athlete's angry expression faded as she thought for a moment. She did, in fact, remember the times when she and Lincoln were younger. She did love her little brother and enjoyed the moments they shared with one another. For a moment, Lynn looked like she was feeling regret for her actions. But then she pushed out all those feelings and the memories that brought them.

"You don't understand," the athlete retorted. "NO ONE understands! I have a reputation to uphold. I'm a winner, and winners _never_ lose. With every victory, I knew I was chosen by a higher being for something magnificent. And now when I'm so close to achieving my destiny, I am betrayed by everyone. That's why you can't leave me in here. Pop-Pop, you _need_ to get me out of here. This is the only chance I have."

"To do what, LJ?!" her grandfather angrily said. "Use everyone close to you as disposable stepping stones in your self-imposed quest for self-glory?! You have a lot of potential, Lynn. Don't throw it all away obsessing over fairy tales."

"This family supports itself," Lynn angrily reminded him. "You're my grandfather and I'm your granddaughter, and you're about to leave me to rot in this prison all alone without fulfilling my purpose in life. Do you even care about your family anymore?!"

"I was going to ask _you_ the same thing," Albert stood up from his seat and stared down at Lynn with a serious and intimidating look of disappointment and shame. "The feeling of loss isn't a good feeling, it's even worse for those who don't realize what they've lost until it's too late. Before you became so consumed by your pride, Lynn, I'm sure you had a sincere love for your friends, family, and Lincoln. There was a time when I was proud of your achievements and supported you. But _this_ is something I can't support you or the rest of your family on. You keep painting yourself as some great champion who can do no wrong, but the truth is you're just a deluded little girl trying to act like a giant. You've closed your heart to everyone you fear would make you look weak, your friends, your family, your brother, and now me. You've even closed your heart to yourself."

"You don't want to do this," Lynn said with desperation in her eyes.

"You're right, I don't," Albert replied with eyes and a voice full of pity. "But what choice do I have? Good-bye Lynn. I suggest you use your time in this place to think carefully about the life you have chosen to lead." Then he hung up the phone, turned around, and left. As he was leaving, Lynn called to him come back and get her out. He never looked back. "Rita, what have you done?!" he quietly said to himself with a heartbroken expression on his face as he walked out the door and was gone.

**End of Flashback**

With her last hope of getting out of this place and competing in the championship gone, the only solace Lynn could gain was watching her predictions come true. As frustrated as she was, she hoped the softball gods would go easy on her grandfather when they unleashed their inevitable wrath.

The young teen entered the rec room. There were a couple guards posted at certain parts of the room to keep an eye on the four inmates already there. The four inmates were sitting in chairs watching the political news on a television set. All four of them were boys a few years older than her. Lynn recognized a couple of them but didn't care. She walked up to the TV set and switched it to the sports news channel.

"Hey, we were watching that!" one of the boys yelled.

"Well now you're watching _this_," Lynn defiantly replied.

"Interested in seeing how your former teammates win the championship?" taunted another boy.

"No, I'm interested in seeing how they _lose_ the championship. I warned them they would be nothing without me, and now is the time where I will be proven right."

"Lynn!" one of the guards approached. "What have we told you about causing trouble? Do I have to take you back to your cell again?"

"It's alright," the first inmate assured the guard. "We'll watch what she wants to watch. Besides, seeing her reaction when her _predictions_ don't come true should be quiet entertaining."

The guard and the young inmate both exchanged sly smirks to one another in agreement. It was _extremely_ for prison guards and inmates to get along at all, these two made it work with their mutual dislike for the Loud girl. Soon, everyone got comfortable as they watched the Royal Woods Softball Championship get underway.

"_Well, it's a gorgeous day today, isn't it, Pep_?" the baseball announcer asked.

"_Yes it is_," Pep replied. "_Because today is the long awaited championship. The Royal Woods Squirrels had hit a few snags along the way, but here they are. Ready to show off all their hard work_."

"_However, rumor has it that the Squirrels no longer have their star player, Lynn Loud_."

"_The rumor is true. Two weeks ago, Loud and her family were arrested and tried for child abuse_."

The announcer gasped in shock. "_No way_!"

"_Oh yes! Turns out she blamed her own brother for her first loss and convinced the rest of her family to lock him out of the house_."

"_I've witnessed a lot of displays of poor sportsmanship in the past. But **this** one takes the cake. I bet the softball gods aren't too happy with her now_."

"_Don't talk like that_," Pep scolded. "_Remember? Thanks to Lynn's actions, the practice of superstitious rituals has been banned from any sporting event_."

"_Right! Right. Of course_," the announcer nervously corrected himself lest he get into trouble. "_I how her fans are feeling. I bet a lot of them were really looking forward to seeing her perform in this long awaited event_."

"_I don't know_," Pep said in a disagreeing tone. "_From what I've seen, when word got out about the trial and what she did, no one seems to care that she's gone_."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the locker room, the Squirrels were getting ready for the big game they're all been waiting for. However, there was an atmosphere of uncertainty in the room. A few members had mixed feelings about their current situation.

"Are we sure we can do this?" one of the girls asked.

"What do you mean?" another girl asked confused.

"I mean, I know Lynn was a jerk. But she really was the best player on our team. I don't know if we can win this without her."

"Look, Lynn has acted like a glory hogging jerk one too many times. This time, she went too far and it bit her in the butt. You know that feeling in your gut. We _finally_ get to use the bathroom whenever we want. Now we can play without any internal issues distracting us."

"I guess you're right," the first girl agreed. "That feeling is wonderful."

"Of course it is. Now let's go out there and show everyone what _real_ winners are!"

"Maybe if we win this, Lynn will realize we can be just as good as her and will give us the respect we deserve."

"Doubt it. Lynn's never impressed with any victory she didn't win herself."

However, the mood changed when some of the players turned their attention to Margo who was getting ready with a very somber expression on her face.

"You doing okay, Margo?" one of the concerned girls asked. "You've been a little down since the trial."

"I'm fine," she assured everyone. "It's just that…" She paused a moment to wipe a single tear from her eye. "I thought as her best friend I could get through to her."

"It's not your fault. As far as we're concerned, she was beyond reasoning at that point."

Then there was a knocking at the locker room door.

"Who is it?" the team's new captain asked.

"It's Lincoln, Lynn's brother," a voice came from behind the door. "Can I speak with you?"

"Is everyone decent?" the captain asked the team who all confirmed. "Why not? You can come in."

The young white-haired boy entered wearing his church-style uniform. He had a bit of a sad and uncomfortable look on his face. "Hi," he awkwardly greeted them. "You all probably know me as Lynn's little brother."

"Yeah, we've heard of you," one player replied.

"We're a little surprised," another player said. "Didn't expect to see you of all people here."

"I'm not a big sports fan, no offense," said Lincoln. "But I couldn't stay away. I wanted to support you all and to apologize on behalf of my sister for the way she treated all of you."

"Lynn hardly ever apologizes for anything," one player pointed out.

"I know. But someone has to," Lincoln replied. "Also, I have to admit that there were times when I made some stupid mistakes that caused my sisters to cause problems. I wanted to try and make things right with anyone who got caught up in all that. So I'm here to say I'm sorry to all of you for any problems I might've indirectly caused you."

The girls were all very touched by the younger boy's gesture. They barely knew him, but they could see that he was a really good kid.

"Well, we would like to apologize to _you_ on behalf of what our sister did," Margo said sincerely.

"Yeah, I can't believe she did that to you!" a disgusted player said. "Nah, I take it back. I can _totally_ believe she did that."

Margo shot a disapproving glare at the girl for her insensitivity. She knew that despite the terrible things Lynn did to Lincoln, she was still his sister and deep down he still cared about her.

"It's okay," the boy assured them. "I've accepted the fact that a lot of this _is_ her own fault. I just wish I could've made her realize it before it was too late. She worked so hard for this day."

"Well Lincoln, we're glad you came and had this talk with us," Margo said warmly. "You're a good kid. Lynn doesn't know how truly lucky she is to have a brother like you."

"Thanks," Lincoln gratefully replied. "Do your best out there."

"Don't worry, we will," the team leader assured.

"Take care," Margo said.

"Will do," the white-haired boy replied before leaving the locker room and closing the door behind him.

Lincoln said a little prayer asking God to bless the Squirrels before returning to his friends in the bleachers.

* * *

Back at Juvie, Lynn, the other inmates, and the guards were all watching players getting ready for the big game and listening to the announcers. While watching, Lynn noticed the camera had spotted her brother sitting in the bleachers without the mascot suit.

"_The Squirrels are now taking their positions on the field_," the announcer announced. "_What's this?! Is that Lincoln Loud I see in the bleachers, Pep_?"

"_Why yes it is_!" a surprised Pep replied. "_The kid that Lynn accused of being bad luck and costing the game_."

"_Well, looks like we'll see if Lynn was right or if she's just a crazy sore loser_."

Lynn grinned confidently when she saw her brother amongst the spectators. "_This is perfect_!" she thought to herself. "_I knew the Squirrels would never be able to win without me. But now that they've let Stincoln in without the god luck suit, they don't stand a chance. They'll lose the championship, prove that I was right all along, and suffer the wrath of the softball gods! Everything's going according to as I predicted_!"

The game lasted for a long time. But eventually all great things must come to an end.

"_SQUIRRLES WIN! SQUIRRELS WIN! SQUIRRELS WIN_!" the announcer excitedly screamed.

"_You heard it, folks_," Pep said proudly. "_The Squirrels win the championship_!"

The entire stadium erupted in loud cheers and applause. The winning team were all seen cheering and celebrating their victory. Lincoln and his friends were all giving them congratulatory applause.

Everyone in the rec room was celebrating the Squirrels' victory in the championship. Everyone except Lynn.

"Well girl," one of the inmates mocked her. "Guess they _didn't_ need you after all." However, his mockery received no response. "Hello?"

Lynn was paying no attention to anyone around her. She just sat in her seat staring at the TV screen with a look of complete shock and disbelief painted all over her face. The guards and inmates tried to get her attention, but to no avail. She didn't even react to or notice the guards dragging her out of the room and back to her cell. She had completely shut herself off from reality. She felt like the entire world was literally falling apart all around her.

"_They cheated! They MUST'VE cheated! I wasn't there and HE was! They never could've won that game_!" she desperately thought. "_But even if they did, the softball gods would've never let them get away with it! Unless…_" Suddenly, fear and anxiety started to overtake her as a very dreadful thought came to mind. "_Unless… Have the softball gods abandoned me TOO?! NO! They wouldn't! I'm their chosen one! I'm the only one! I AM! This must be a dream. It HAS to be! A very VERY bad dream. Wake up, LJ! WAKE UP_!"

Suddenly, she found herself standing in an empty baseball field at night. The lights were all focused on her. The bleachers were filled with shadowy people booing and jeering her. Lynn turned her attention to the dark sky above.

"Why?" she asked the starless heavens. "Why have you forsaken me? Why softball gods? How did I disappoint you? What did I do wrong?"

The sound of a pitch was heard from a distance and out of the darkness a baseball came hurling toward the former athlete. She readied herself to catch the ball, but it suddenly stopped and floated in the air above the ground at the height of her eyes. The stitching in the ball unraveled to reveal a row of grinning, sharp, pointy and demonic-looking teeth.

"You were incapable of believing in yourself and your teammates," the demonic ball answered in an ominous and sinister sounding tone.

"What are you talking about?" a confused Lynn asked. "I could've won the entire championship with one arm tied behind my back if it wasn't for –"

"Just cut the pathetic, pretentious boasting," the ball interrupted. "To protect your pride, you allowed superstitions to govern your life and shifted the blame onto others. Did you _really_ think you'd become some great person by following such a way of life?! Don't make me laugh."

"What's wrong with having superstitions?" Lynn angrily asked the ball. "What's wrong with believing that there are things beyond human understanding that are responsible for what happens in our lives? What's wrong with fighting for what you believe in? What's wrong with trying to be the greatest?!" The ball just floated where it was silently grinning at her. "Well, say something! Answer me!"

"I can only speak if you ask the _right_ question."

"Okay then. How about we start with you the heck are you?" The young former athlete was really starting to get annoyed with this… thing.

"Who am I?!" the ball replied sounding creepily delighted with that question. "I guess you could say I'm the _voice_ of your _so-called_ softball gods." Hearing this caused Lynn's expression to turn from anger to surprise. "I'm here to speak on their behalf. All my words are equivalent to theirs and any judgement I bestow upon you is equivalent to their judgement."

"But why am **_I_** the one receiving judgement?!" the confused and upset Lynn asked. "I've done nothing wrong! I was cursed and betrayed! If this is still about that one game I lost, it wasn't my fault. And I've taken every precaution to ensure it would never happen again. I would've won the championship if I hadn't been put in here."

"It is not uncommon for those who develop a passion for sports at a young age to believe that winning is the most important thing. But as they mature, they realize that there is more to sports than just winning. You never grew beyond your kindergarten years."

"Everything I did, I did for the gods I worship," Lynn said still refusing to believe what was happening to her. "My life's work has been in their names."

"Your life's work embarrasses them and makes them sick," the ball retorted. "You've taken the sports they represent and twisted them for your own gain."

"But I'm their chosen one!"

"Their Chosen One?!" the ball exclaimed bursting into hysterical and sadistic laughter. The shadowy crowd soon joined in the laughter. The sounds of their cruel taunting cut into Lynn like the sharp teeth of a predator into the flesh of its prey. "The so-called gods don't _choose_ anyone. Even if they did, they would **_never_** choose someone like you."

"But… but…" Lynn stammered. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Open your eyes, child. Your '_gods_' are nothing more than the memories of mortal athletes long past. Memories that you have tarnished with your foolishness and selfishness. And now your pitiful attempts to make your fantasies realities have cost you what truly mattered in your tragically wasted life."

Suddenly, memories started running through Lynn's head like a projector. Happy memories of times she spent with her family and friends. But most of them were memories that she shared with her brother, Lincoln. They were concluded with memories of all the times she let her pride get the best of her and made life miserable to her loved ones, with the memories of how she'd ruined her only brother's life without a shred of regret. She didn't know if these were memories that this mysterious creature intentionally brought up or if these memories came to her on their own. Either way, she felt as if her very spirit was dying. She felt everything she believed in start to fade into nothingness. Lynn suddenly fell to her knees, her arms hung from her shoulders, her fingers barely touched the ground. The look on the girl's face made the demonic ball's grin grow even bigger. It was a look of despair, shame, and remorseful. Tears dripped from her eyes as she could no longer keep her deepest feelings restrained any longer.

"And now you understand," the ball said with sadistic delight. "However, out of all the nonsense you've spouted, there was one thing you said that would come to fruition."

"And what's that?" the broken 13-year-old asked.

"The Wrath of your So-Called Gods!"

Suddenly, a huge shadow fell upon the field and the crowd started cheering. Lynn looked behind herself to find a gigantic baseball player wielding a giant bat towering over her. The giant's face was obstructed by shadow, but she could make out to glowing white eyes staring intimidatingly down at her. Instantly, she felt her feelings of shame turn to feelings of terror as she stared up at the intimidating figure and realized that **_she_** was the one to suffer the gods' wrath that she predicted. Lynn stood trembling in fear, unable to move. Then she felt the ground beneath her feet tremble, and then multiple metal plates emerged from the ground and trapped her inside a giant metal ball with only one barred window. She looked thought the small barred opening to see the demonic ball grinning sinisterly at her.

"And now we will bestow upon the judgement you so justly deserve!" it said ominously.

The giant baseball player knelt down, picked up the ball, and began lifting it into the air. Lynn desperately tugged on the bars, banged on the walls, and cried hysterically.

"NO! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO MEEEEEE!" she tearfully begged.

"You brought this outcome upon yourself," the ball apathetically replied.

"PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE!"

"You reap what you sow."

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! MOM! DAD! LORI! LUNA! LUCY! POP-POP! MARGO! **_LINCOLN_**!"

Then the giant tossed the ball into the air and struck it with its giant bat sending it and the screaming Lynn hurling into the dark sky above.

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHH!_"

"_HEY SHUT UP! Some of us are trying to sleep!_"

Lynn screamed at the top of her lungs. Then she opened her eyes and found herself sitting up in her bed back in her dark, cold, empty cell. It had all been a horrible hallucination. A terrible nightmare. But the feelings in it were real and had returned with her to the real world. She buried her face in her hands as she felt tears of remorse burst from her eyes. Lynn's pride had finally been broken.

"_Tragic isn't it_?" Narrator Lynn asked the readers. "_Betrayed and abandoned by everyone close to her. Even the very gods she worshipped. Now do you all understand? I didn't do anything wrong. Lincoln was the one who brought this outcome upon himself and us. But everyone still has to say that I –_"

"Oh, put a cork in it already!" a miserable and annoyed Lynn yelled at her narrator self.

"_What?! I was just explaining to them what happened so they'd stop being so judgmental of us_."

"Who are you trying to fool? They saw everything that led to this, they know _who's_ to blame."

"_What did I do wrong? What should I had done instead_?"

"I'm pretty sure you saw the answer to that question with your own eyes."

"_But… but…_"

"Why don't you let someone who knows what they're talking about tell this story and stop bothering everyone? Now if you'll excuse me, I have to rethink my life."

"_Fine_," Narrator Lynn complied in a defeated tone.

With that, Lynn curled up in her bed and miserably drifted off to sleep. Her spirit broken, her dreams crushed, and with no one to blame for her problems but herself anymore.

* * *

**Author's Note: I intended for this last scene between Lynn and her narrator self to be symbolic. Narrator Lynn represents Chris Savino, the creator of the series who reportedly stated Lincoln got what he deserved in "No Such Luck". Lynn talking back to Narrator Lynn is my way of calling out Chris on how screwed up his sense of morality was concerning that episode. **

**Aside from that, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Lynn has _finally_ realized what she has become. Next chapter we'll see the other family members have their own realizations. **


End file.
